When we are young, we are taught to treat everyone equally. Naturally, as children you learn and apply and hope that another person does the same. Rights, they are basic and unalienable to all humans upon entering a foreign or country of citizenship. Fighting for equal treatment to the prominent race has created history that is left for future activist to involve themselves with past history, and revive movements. Equal treatment amongst the different cultures is necessary for the social and political success for this country. As citizens of a country, we expect that the melting pot of cultures to be civil with one another and the representation of cultures be positive. But what happens when a native from the North American country is targeted through sports? Sports: physical active games, fan filled, entertaining to the public, and usually represented by an object. The typical sports mascot varies between an animal, historical figures to a fictional character. To the public, some mascots that have a positive outlook since they are just “things” representing a game; to the observational public there are some mascots that have a demeaning aspect. In the case of the use of Native Americans to represent a team, it is offensive and controversial due to the accumulated years of racism and violence against them, and there must be a change for the progressive society. This dissection of the negative history, the controversy of the issue, the opposing defense, and how this affects the Native American community are important to further analyze the problem. The first settlers in the United States are Native Americans. Fighting for hierarchy and they once roamed nomadically, searching for peace and sanity. Seeking equality from the white m... ... middle of paper ... ...1-81. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. King, C. Richard. "Looking Back To A Future End: Reflections On The Symposium On Racist Stereotypes In American Sport At The National Museum Of The American Indian." American Indian Quarterly 38.2 (2014): 135-142. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. Perdue, Theda. "The Legacy Of Indian Removal." Journal Of Southern History 78.1 (2012): 3-36. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. Steinfeldt, Jesse A., and Matthew Clint Steinfeldt. "Multicultural Training Intervention To Address American Indian Stereotypes." Counselor Education & Supervision 51.1 (2012): 17-32. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. Williams, Dana M. "Where's The Honor? Attitudes Toward The "Fighting Sioux" Nickname And Logo." Sociology Of Sport Journal 24.4 (2007): 437-456. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
I enjoyed reading your post. I agree with you that offending people should be avoided at all costs. I feel that all words and images regarding American Indians or any race should be banned from being affiliated with any sports teams and mascots. I put this in my original post, but you do not see sports or mascots using any other race. According to Racismagainstindians.org (2002), “interchange the name of any race with the Indians and it immediately becomes clear that we cannot have teams called The Negroes, The Asians, or The Jews”. Today, there are less than 1,000 American Indian mascots used for sports teams (“Anti-Defamation,” 2015).
The dispute over whether Native American mascots should be used as a team symbol dates back to the 1970’s (Price 2). People differ on the basic issue, but there is a more important underlying principle. It is called freedom. Determining whether or not someone is harmed by a practice can reveal whether that practice can or should be morally justified. Wherein lies the truth about exercising the use of American Indian mascots? The reality is that they cannot be morally justified. The certainty is not ascertainable by way of any comparison to other similar phenomena. No such comparison can be made as none exits. Then, are not the only relevant voices those of the Indians themselves? If so, the truth regarding this imagery can only be discovered by conferring with the groups that are depicted. Only those portrayed should have a voice. Or at the very least, be heard louder and more clearly than those who are not mirrored in the representations.
...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 his Sports Illustrated article, “The Indian Wars,” S.L. Price argues that there is no easy answer to whether or not the use of Native American mascots by high school, college, and professional sports teams is offensive. “It's an argument that, because it mixes mere sports with the sensitivities of a people who were nearly exterminated, seems both trivial and profound -- and it's further complicated by the fact that for three out of four Native Americans, even a nickname such as Redskins, which many whites consider racist, isn't objectionable.” Whereas Price provides ample evidence that his claim is true, I disagree with the way it was presented and I still insist that Native American names and mascots are offensive.
Privilege is thinking something is not a problem because it’s not a problem to someone personally. It’s difficult to see a situation for what it is when it’s not specifically affecting a person. In the article “Indian mascots — you’re out,” author Jack Shakely discusses that the cultural appropriation of Native American mascots in college and professional sports teams is treated like a minuscule matter, but removing the mascots would be “the right thing to do.” Shakely expounds his first experience of conflict with his background and supporting the Cleveland Indians. The article is an opinion piece from Los Angeles Times, published on August 25, 2011. Although it isn’t recent, it’s indubitably timely. The appropriation of Native American culture
In our current generation, the year 2016, one may think racism would be diminished but it has yet to be acknowledged. Most people would have thought discrimination ended with the time of slavery, but it continues to exist in indirect ways. When people think Native Americans, they think about how they were the true Americans and how they aided Columbus’s settlement into the Early Americas. Native Americans experience discrimination to this day, yet nothing has been said about the Indian’s existence and rights. In Kimberly Roppolo’s essay, “Symbolism, Racism, History, and Reality: The Real Problem with Indian Mascots,” constructs the reason and gives us an idea on why this type of racism still exists and why people continue to unknowingly discriminate
In all sports, teams use mascots to represent their team’s pride, strength, and will to win. The role the mascot plays is an intimidation factor, as well as something to motivate the team. Teams will have mascots that range from anything, from an animal to an inanimate object, like a hammer or an orange. Mascots rarely fall under scrutiny, except for the mascots that represent Native American tribes, people or cultures. Many schools and teams use some sort of Native American reference as a mascot. The Native American mascots used range from names like the Indians, Chiefs, and Braves, which are some of the more generic ones, to Seminoles, Fighting Illini, and Chippewas to name some of the tribal based names.
De Rosier, Arthur H. Jr. The Removal of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville; 1970
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.
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 ...
Throughout the comparatively recent history of the United States, there have been many obstacles that the relatively young nation has had to overcome. Even before the nation had obtained its independence from Britain, there were conflicts with the Natives of the new land. Then wars were fought for other countries benefit, on their own soil. Then, of course, there was the Revolutionary War, fought in the late 1770’s, in which British colonists rose up against their British fathers in order to gain economic, religious and political freedom. After the acquirement of their independence as a nation, there were still many conflicts that the fledgling country had to worry about. The continent of North America was still controlled by other European superpowers, not to mention the multitudes of Native Indians that populated the lands west of the Appalachians. In order to combat other world powers as well as increase their own wealth, trade, and influence, the Americans adopted an attitude of ‘Manifest Destiny’, in which westward expansion was priority and their right. This however, led to more troubles and conflicts with the Natives of the land. The Indians west of the Appalachian m...
Richard Estrada is a noted author, thoughtful, independent-minded associate editor of the Dallas Morning News. In his essay "Sticks and Stones and Sports Team Names," Estrada addresses the issue of whether sports teams should use names and images associated with Native Americans. Estrada believes that using Native American tribes/groups as sport team names are unacceptable. Native Americans have the right just like all other ethnic groups to rally against the world of sports entertainment. The “Washington Blackskins” would not last a week if that were a team name so why should we allow the name “Redskins.” Estrada argues that the newspapers should ban references to Native American nicknames. People of the sports entertainment world are ignoring the fact that Native Americans are a minority and they should get a say if they would like for a certain team/group to represent their symbols. Estrada establishes common ground by using all ethnic groups as an example to attract everyone’s attention. This strategy is very effective because it places all ethnic groups in the position of the Native Americans so they can see what it would be like in their shoes or to see things from their point of view. “The
I never really thought about how Native Americans really felt about people using their Chiefs or Tribes names as College, Universities and professional sports team names and Mascots. This Topic is dividing the Native American community with 90% of the Native community saying that they really don’t get offended about the Mascot and Football team names. The resting 10% of the Native community find it offensive. Saying that it is racist, that the names reinforce and promote bullying towards Native American Students in some schools that have native names or mascots as stated in the article “Oregon Bans Native American Mascots in schools.” I would say I agree that sports teams shouldn’t have their names connected to Native American history or culture,
The history of the relationship between Indigenous Peoples of the North America and European settlers represents a doubtlessly tragic succession of events, which resulted in a drastic decline in Indigenous population leading to the complete annihilation of some Native groups, and bringing others to the brink of extinction. This disastrous development left the Indigenous community devastated, shaking their society to its very pillars. From the 1492 Incident and up to the 19th century the European invasion to the North America heavily impacted the social development of the Indigenous civilization: apart from contributing to their physical extermination by waging incessant war on the Indian tribes, Anglo-Americans irreversibly changed the Native lifestyle discrediting their entire set of moral guidelines. Using the most disreputable inventions of the European diplomacy, the colonizers and later the United States’ government not only turned separate Indigenous tribes against each other but have also sown discord among the members of the same tribe. One of the most vivid examples of the Anglo-American detrimental influence on the Native groups is the history of the Cherokee Nation and the U.S. Indian Removal Policy. The Cherokee removal from Georgia (along with many other Indian nations) was definitely an on-going conflict that did not start at any moment in time, but developed in layers of history between the Native Americans, settlers of various cultures, and the early U.S. government. This rich and intricate history does not allow for easy and quick judgments as to who was responsible for the near demise of the Cherokee Nation. In 1838, eight thousand Cherokees perished on a forced march out of Georgia, which came to be called the T...
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, ...