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Positive impact of sport
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Hi I am a sophomore at Edmond North High School. It has come to my attention that at one of the BALTO events, 3-on-3 basketball game, a team of Sophomore boys had the team name of "Mike Pence's Jumper Cables" and had LGBT flags on their shirts. I was informed that they were permitted to play despite the offensive context. BALTO is about bring a positive impact to our communities and the people within them, it has given Edmond North such a delightful reputation. When we let the people who promote homophobic context represent BALTO, we in return give our community a negative impact. ENHS is very fortunate to have the ability to provide a safe-space for the numerous students who identify in the LGBT community with clubs such as GSA. However in
This case involved a public high school student, Matthew Fraser who gave a speech nominating another student for a student elective office. The speech was given at an assembly during school as a part of a school-sponsored educational program in self-government. While giving the speech, Fraser referred to his candidate in what the school board called "elaborate, graphic, and explicit metaphor." After his speech, the assistant principal told Fraser that the school considered the speech a violation of the school's "disruptive-conduct rule." This prohibited conduct that interfered with the educational process, including obscene, profane language or gestures. After Fraser admitted he intentionally had used sexual innuendo in the speech, he was told that he would be suspended from school for three days, and his name would be removed from the list of the speakers at the graduation exercises.
Native American’s lives are negatively impacted because they are made to feel uncomfortable and are presented with a hostile environment when they attend sporting events that use Native American images as their team’s mascot. Native Americans should not be made to feel uncomfortable because they are being disrespected while trying to be members of their community as a result of sports teams’ degrading use of images of Native American heritage as their team’s mascot. Many non-Natives do not view the use of Native American mascots as disrespectful, but their opinions cannot ensure that everyone will not feel disrespected. Many Native Americans are made uncomfortable in public settings because of the use of mascots, thus negatively impacting their lives. If those of Native American heritage feel disrespected and degraded because of the use of mascots, and they clearly do, action should be taken to remove the issues that are causing a negative impact on their lives.
Native Americans are trying to take that next step. For the past 100 years Americans have stolen their sacred names and used them for mascots of high school, college, and professional sports teams. The National Education Association is one of the first to step to the plate by passing, Article I-41, which advises use of Prejudicial Terms and Symbols "The National Education Association deplores prejudice based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, size, marital status, or economic status and rejects the use of names, symbols, caricatures, emblems, logos, and mascots that promote such prejudice. (92,94)" By having these practices they believe the rights of Native Americans are protected. Native American Mascots in sports need to change to protect and uphold the rights that are granted to them from the constitution.
In regards to the use of Indian mascots by elementary, middle and high school sports teams, I feel that children should be exposed to realistic and positive portrayals of American Indians during their educational years rather than something that can be taken as bigoted. It is the responsibility of educators to set the example and teach the youth of today to respect other ethnic or minority peoples - NOT to exploit or disrespect them by using them as 'mascots' or stereotypical 'images' which perpetuates racism.
Issue of whether to keep Mascots in schools or not, started in late 1970’s and from then this debate is going on. Most of the schools have Indian Mascots in place for half a century and suddenly it become problem to use Indian Mascots. Over 500 Native American organizations also announced their support for the removal of those mascots and over 1200 schools across the United States have changed the name of their sports teams and some school refused to play with those schools using Indian mascots. But some school still think that using mascots are just paying homage to the Native peoples and it’s just another group claiming to be offended. Sports teams used those mascots to promote their team’s athletic powers, like wolf, lion and eagle etc. How portrait of an Indain wearing hat with feather or headdress can be offensive or racist? One thing which never be done up to now that is to view our history from Native eyes. First of all, learn about their culture and their living style from their new perspective not the one which is given in our history books. From last hundred years we taught our generations that this is our country and we had a very long war with Indians which won. We also tell different kind of stories like burning of Fort Pequot Indians because they had trade relationship with British company. Can stories like this possibly be related to mascot issue? Using mascots are really a problem or just a political incorrectness.
Aside from professional sports teams having offensive names, high school and college teams also have offensive names. In Greenly, Colorado at the University of Northern Colorado, their mascot is the Fightin’ Reds. Of course, this name sounds very racists, depicting Native Americans in a very harsh manner. Students on the basketball team renamed their team, The Fightin’ Whites. They were trying to depict the 1950’s style of the average American male. Their slogan for their team is “Every thang’s going to be all white.” By making this new mascot and new slogan, the basketball team was trying to get their city council to talk about the insensitive team mascots that their school, along with thousands of other schools have. In Eaton, Colorado the people who live there are amazed by all the madness that is going on about the school’s mascot. They are perfectly happy with the mascot, and to them it seems like it would be breaking tradition if someone were to change their mascot. Even though there are many people who hate the school’s mascot and vote for it to be changed, there are also some people who love it and do not want to be changed. Some people think it is a honor for a school’s mascot to be named after their culture. But the number of people for the mascots do not even compare to the number of people opposed to the mascots. (Cart, A12)
Some schools changed their team’s name voluntarily. In 2005, the NCAA required colleges to evaluate the potential offensiveness of their team name, symbol, or mascot and to get permission from the affected group. In North Dakota, the state university tried to drop its Fighting Sioux moniker; the state legislature blocked the move and then repealed the decision. Even in the state of Mississippi, Alcorn State University has stopped using a Native American mascot, but they have retained their Braves nickname. This indicates that meaningful discussion is being held about the use of these terms and images; hopefully, they are close to being
Sports organizations that have ethnic team names and mascots have been a controversial hot topic for decades. Professional sports franchises like the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and Washington Redskins have maintained significant presence and fan base in their respective leagues, but disputes over the perceived racial offensiveness of their names has surrounded them. Some Native American activist groups and political figures think ethnic team names and mascots are disrespectful to their culture and defame the historical legacy of their ancestors. They view the name “Redskins” as a racial slur, and the cartoonish-looking Chief Wahoo mascot for the Cleveland Indians as mockery rather than flattery. Despite the fact that sports franchises know their brand is offending ethnic groups, they have refused to change their team names. Native Americans have experienced psychological distress, lower self-esteem, and a lower sense of achievement because of the offensive and stereotypical names/logos of these teams ("Washington Redskins: Do Offensive Team Names Endanger Public Health?"). This begs the question, should sports teams with potentially offensive names and mascots be required to change their identities in order to be more racially sensitive and politically correct?
Schools need to includes sexual orientation and gender identity into the existing policies and inform employees and students about it. The state will reimburse if the implementation for statewide cost does not exceed $1,000,000. The values of teaching students to not discriminate against anyone is a “discussion about respect for differences” and that this discussion concern “equity and civil rights”; this lesson will be with students throughout their life (Sexual Orientation, Our Children & The Law, 9). The fact that this bill provides safety for sexual minority students and helps reduce violence that can lead to suicide outweighs the
· Influences: civil rights movement, Black Power movement, white student movement, antiwar movement, and feminism.
The growing debate about the mascots, logos, and team names used in sports has been an issue since the 1960’s-1970’s. The argument that is at hand is depicting if these symbols are a representation of pride or if they can be classified as racist. There are many supporters to both sides of this debate. Many on one side are arguing that the symbols are clearly racist while others on the opposing side are making claims that the symbols are an honor to whom they are portraying and are negatively connected to racism. There also the individuals who do not identify with either side, obtaining the belief that these symbols are a representation of the organization itself rather that creating a backstory or an image associated to anything other than the organization represented by an image. With many debates and issues regarding the topic happening annually, the question remains, what should be done about the racism issue in the sports industries?
Many times throughout our history, elected and future leaders will fight a war on poverty. Leaders like George W. Bush will run on his campaign trail saying, “The purpose of prosperity is to leave no one out-to leave no one behind”(2). His words were misleading to the public and the nation as a whole. The LGBT community was left out and left behind under his administration. “In fact, after controlling for a number of factors associated with poverty, rates for LGB adults are higher than for heterosexual adults.”(4). If receiving aid to be helped out of poverty, one had to meet a certain criteria, it should have been clearly stated in his speeches. His effectiveness of ending poverty cost the LGBT community their way of life.
This writer remembers watching Mathew Sheppard’s story unfold on the news one early morning. One could not believe that this young man was treated so inhumane for being gay. Listening as the news reporter reported that Sheppard was beat, and tied to a fence and left to die was unrealistic at the time. Why would anyone treat another human this way is baffling? Even though, Sheppard eventually did pass away from his injuries, he was not forgotten. As a result of his death, the Department of Justice (2015) “create[d] a new federal criminal law which criminalizes [when someone] willfully cause[s] bodily injury” to another human based in their “race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability” (Department
This has been a landmark year for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBT
The treatment of the LGBT community in American Society is a social injustice. What most people think is that they just want to be able to marry one another and be happy but that’s not it. They want to be treated like humans and not some weird creatures that no one has ever seen before. They want to be accepted for who them are and not what people want them to be and they deserve the right to be who they are just the same as any other human being. After all the discrimination they have endured they should be allowed to be who they are and be accepted as equals just like people of different skin color did in the times of segregation. We have a long way to go as a country but being the greatest country in the world in the eyes of many great America will make big steps to make things fair.