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Essays on native american culture
Essays on native american culture
Essays on native american culture
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The student section roars with mighty school cheers, tomahawk flags glisten as they are waved throughout the chanting crowd, guys vigorously rip each other's shirts off to reveal the school's name painted across their stomachs intertwined with their unwaxed chests, and parents abruptly stand, hollering their sons name while proudly wearing their school mascot, the Indian. For decades upon decades, the Indian head mascot has been debate topic for whether or not high school and professional sports teams are allowed to use the logo. Many have complained that it is offensive to the Native Americans due to how the Indian is being wrongly portrayed. While others are supportive of the Indian mascot because the school districts are honoring and educating …show more content…
Using the Indian head mascot causes Native Americans to feel as if the sports teams are making fun of their ways of life. In 2017, Karen Mackley from the Iowa Commission on Native American Affairs strongly discouraged schools spirit with the portrayal of Indians, “Images of Native American sports mascots are especially harmful to Native youth; they tend to contribute to lower self-esteem and limit feelings of community worth” (Mackey). Mackey expresses how Native Americans are harshly affected by the wrongful portrayal of Indians by high schools across the country. Some of the ways schools portray their Indians create stereotypical issues involving Native Americans. The cartoon illustration of the Indian makes the stereotyping matter even worse due to the exaggerated proportions of the Indian body. For Marion High School, the Indian head portrayed looks like a darker skinned man, with a larger nose, and elaborate feather headdress; this is a stereotype to the Native American population because not all Indians look like this. Although the Indian mascot has to be taken with a grain of salt, the Indian head does honor and support the Native …show more content…
The general white population of the United States sees the role of an Indian, when used as a school's mascot, as an uplifting and honorable event. Most school’s are intending to represent the Indians in the most conscientious way possible. Though according to most Native Americans, when they see the Indian being used as a mascot, they view it in a disgusting, unhonorable way. They claim that the way people choose to represent them is unrealistic and it creates stereotypes that spread around the tribes like wildfire. It has been many years since this debate over the Indian mascot has arose and communities and tribes across America don't see it settling down any time
Teams in every sport, at every level of competition, have a mascot. It is the mascot that represents the competitive spirit and team identity, motivating players and fans alike. Does the symbol chosen have any impact on whether a team wins or loses? Unlikely. But the choice of a Native American mascot continues to ignite debate and controversy among athletes, fans and alumni, as well as those people who might otherwise be disinterested in sports. Utilizing an Indian mascot is nothing more than a veiled attempt at hate speech.
In Sacramento, California there are crusades to get rid of school’s with Indian team mascots. There are other offensive team mascots aside from Indian mascots as the Imperial Valley College Arabs and the Hollywood High Sheiks. (Bustillo, 1). People from California are trying to pass a bill AB 2115 that would rid public schools of any racial or ethnic groups. (Boghossian, 1). This has been a issue since the late 1960’s. The National Congress of American Indians has been trying to rid team sports from ...
The author Justin Angle says how in a study the mascots and names were shown to people unfamiliar with Native American culture and the sport teams, in the end of the study most of the participants viewed Native American’s as “war like”, which can carry negative consequences in the real world affecting the views of some future employers, creating a view that though Native American’s can be seen as strong and bold they can also have been perceived as violent and irrational. The uses of Redskins also create the belief that it is culturally appropriate for the constant use of Native American culture this has led to thousands of schools and sports teams to have questionable mascots and names. Such as the Savages from Salmon High school and the baseball team the “Indians” whose mascot was a hooked nose red skinned Indian with bucked teeth. Comparing this to the now frowned upon depiction of African American as black red lipped stereotyped popular in the 1920s advertisements does it not show similarities in a cultures becoming a caricature. While one is view as racist the other is view and honorable due to it representing one of the greatest passtimes in America,
In the past few years, the controversy over Native American and other racial sport names or mascots have become an uproar. The main sport teams that are being targeted due to controversial mascots are programs having names dealing with Native Americans. Many teams are well known programs such as the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, and the Washington Redskins. The Redskins are receiving the most heat from racial groups. According to Erik Brady of USA Today “The volatility surrounding such names has amped up in the year since Daniel Snyder, owner of Washington's NFL club, told USA TODAY Sports that he'd never change his team's name: ‘NEVER — you can use caps.’” (3). However, professional teams are not the only teams receiving negative remarks,
Cultural stereotypes have always existed and while they may have been acceptable to society in the past, that does not compel us to accept them in today’s society. One such stereotype which is used is that of Native American names and imagery for sports teams and in particular The Washington Redskins of the National Football league. While for many people, this is an argument that has just recently arisen, in actuality, the debate over the use of native names and images has been an ongoing issue for over 50 years. The subject of the Washington Redskins name has been debated across politics, media, academia, religious backgrounds and in the public square for many years.
...ers' evolution from mother and student into a leading voice against the merchandising of Native American sacred symbols -- and shows the lengths to which fans will go to preserve their mascots." In keeping all the Native American Mascots in schools, colleges, and professional sports teams we are showing a lack of respect. The Native Americans have voiced the lack of honor these names are bringing to them. "The fact that history has ignored the incredible pain we have inflicted on Native Americans does not now give us the right to ignore their largely muted call." Americans need to take a step back think about how they would feel if there ritual and or sacred tradition was misused. "We feel that we are being put in a position of sacrificing our dignity and pride and will never be treated as equals in white society as long as the use of Indian symbols continues."
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.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding elementary, middle and high schools using Native American mascots because it gives them stereotypes of the tribe or people before they learn about them. It is felt that it would give them stereotypes of the Native American people being fierce and wild people who kill and hunt. The problem with this is that for many Indian tribes, that is the case. In the case of the Seminoles, they have an entire war named after them, and people want us to believe that they did not kill. The arguments provided by people opposed to these mascots also state that it is racist and demeaning to the tribe.
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.
Teters, Charlene. “American Indians are People, not Mascots.” American Indian Movement . Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
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
Native Americans have been living on American soil for quite a while now. They were here before the European colonists. They have been here and still continue to be present in the United States. However, the way the media represents Native Americans disallows the truth about Native Americans to be told. Only misinterpretations of Native Americans seem to prosper in the media. It appears the caricature of Native Americans remains the same as first seen from the first settler’s eyes: savage-like people. Their culture and identity has become marginalized by popular culture. This is most evident in mainstream media. There exists a dearth of Native American presence in the mainstream media. There is a lack of Native American characters in different media mediums. When they are represented, they are misrepresented. They are easily one of the most underrepresented cultures and people in American media. Native Americans shouldn’t be confined to a stereotype, should have a greater presence in the media, and shouldn’t be misrepresented when they are presented.
Many races are unjustly victimized, but Native American cultures are more misunderstood and degraded than any other race. College and high school mascots sometimes depict images of Native Americans and have names loosely based on Native American descent, but these are often not based on actual Native American history, so instead of honoring Native Americans, they are being ridiculed. According to the article Warriors Survive Attack, by Cathy Murillo (2009) some “members of the Carpentaria community defended Native American mascot icons as honoring Chumash tradition and the spirit of American Indian Warriors in U.S. history and others claimed that the images were racist stereotypes” (Murillo, 2009). If people do not attempt to understand and respect Native American culture, then Native American stereotypes will become irreparable, discrimination will remain unresolved, and ethnocentrism will not be reprimanded.
Redskins, Seminoles, Tribe, Indians, what do they all have in common? They are all athletic team names under scrutiny by people who deem them as being racist. For years, people have argued over the fact that these names and/or mascots are being used in a negative way. Some have been changed while others are still being argued over. Teams with these mascots should not be forced to change their names because the majority of Native Americans are not even bothered by these sports names.
The next reason we’ll be looking at are the stereotypical images commonly seen in literature and mascots. Mainstream media such as “Dances with Wolves”, “The Lone Ranger”, and “The Last of The Mohicans” and mascots in professional sports teams like Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Blackhawks all include representations of Native Americans that for some, are offensive. With this in mind, ...