Native American’s, Stereotypes, Discrimination, and Ethnocentrism

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.

According to Richard T. Schaefer, (2012) the author of Sociology: Thirteenth Edition, stereotypes are “false images or unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not recognize individual differences within the group” (Schaefer, 2012). Some stereotypes that I have heard are; that Indian is another proper name for Native American, and Native Americans are all alike, worship nature, and smoke a peace pipe. Of course, I know this is untrue, but books and movies often do not focus on actual Native American tribes, so people remain naïve about past and current Native American cultural facts. For example, the article North Dakota lawmakers vote to keep “Fighting Sioux” (2011) claims “at the Florida State University a mascot dressed in an Indian headdress rides horseback at football games and fans wave their...

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...t a name they use to represent their school or sports team. As Orvetti, (2011) claims “The team isn’t racist, the players aren’t racist, the fans aren’t racist. So why not a change” (Orvetti, 2011)?

Bibliography

Murillo, C. (2009). Warriors Survive Attack. Retrieved Mar. 17, 2012, from

http://www.independent.com/news/2009/mar/18/warriors-survive-attack/

(2011). North Dakota lawmakers vote to keep “Fighting Sioux“. Retrieved Mar. 17, 2012, from

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/us-northdakota-sioux-idUSTRE72B0QD20110312

Orvetti, P. (2011). Do the Redskins Need a New Name? Retrieved Mar. 17, 2012, from

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/Do-the-Redskins-Need-a-New-Name-115254879.html

Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and ethnic inequality. Sociology: a brief introduction (13th ed., pp.

236-262). New York: McGraw-Hill.