Native American Mascots Research Paper

The majority culture defends use of the Native Americans symbols in sports and many are confused by the objections raised by Native Americans. “Team Names represent something positive to the fans, People don’t name teams after things they hate.” (40 What’s in a Team Name, Banks). For example, the University of Georgia selected the “The Georgia Bulldogs as their Mascot.”(What’s in a Team Name). Their attributes are “toughness...and integrity”(What’s in a Team Name) to their mascot. Teams also look

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

Chief Wahoo is a derogatory and racist figure that indirectly represents Native Americans. With Chief Wahoo’s blood-red skin, swollen cheeks, triangular eyes, a bulbous nose, an expansive grin and a single feather protruding from the back of his head. There is no reason to suspect that Chief Wahoo is less racist than other logos that represents Native Americans that are considered racist. As Lindsay Lowe explains in her article, “Honor or Insult?” She says that “American Indian mascots often look the same: They wear paint on their faces and carry weapons called tomahawks. Many American Indians say these portrayals promote negative stereotypes by making them seem violent or like cartoon characters,” explaining that these logos not only promote stereotypes towards Native Americans, as well as insulting Native Americans saying that they all look the same. Although people say that Chief Wahoo is just a harmless cartoon, some people

Not all controversial mascots are related to the American Indians. The University of California at Santa Barbara is cheered on by Olé the Gaucho, referring to Latinos from South America. The name is not as offensive, possibly because it is a specific character that happens to be

The year is 1991.  The Atlanta Braves had just completed their first trip to the Fall Classic in four decades, and the Washington Redskins were undefeated, well on their way to their third Super Bowl title.  All across the eastern seaboard, sports fans were tasting success - while American Indians were in an uproar.  This year witnessed the peak of the protests over the use of mascots with American Indian themes.  With two of the major professional sports teams in question making front-page news across the country, many of us heard American Indians' complaints for the first time.  Suddenly, thanks to the cries of thousands of demonstrators, the names of many Americans' favorite teams had become synonymous with "nigger."

The dispute over whether Native American mascots should be used as a team symbol dates back to the 1970’s (Price 2). There are those who are passionately against Native American mascots. These advocators insist that Native American mascots are degrading to

     Many people do not consider themselves supporting Native American mascots that depict them in a bad manner. But when people walk around with a Atlanta Braves shirt on with a Indian with a tomahawk in his hand, it is degrading to the Indians. It is stereotyping them. School mascots and Sports team’s mascots are named after groups of people for no reason known. Notre Dame was founded by Irish Catholics, but their sports team was named the Fighting Irish. The name Fighting Irish has nothing to do with the Irish Catholics, it depicts them in a wrong way.(Price, 3). Team names can be changed to similar names that do not depict certain groups of people. Like the Redskins can be called the Red Hawks or the

Former chair of the Los Angeles Native American Commission, Jack Shakley, in his argument, “Indian Mascots-You’re Out!” disputes whether Native American mascots should be allowed to be the face of American sports teams. Shakley’s purpose is to convey the idea that is insensitive to have Native Americans as mascots. Jack Shakley uses a passionate tone to show readers that not only is using a Native American mascot racist, but it is wrong and should be changed to a less offensive mascot. Shakley starts off using pathos to the readers by telling a story from his childhood. In the article, Shakley demonstrates the ability to use strong pathos and logos arguments to support his claims that we should get rid of Native American mascots and steam names.

Almost everybody loves going to sporting events and seeing all the excited fans as well as the energized mascots. There has been quite a variety of mascots and logos seen in schools whether it be high schools or colleges and in professional leagues. According to a search done by an ESPN FiveThirtyEight reporter through a database known as MascotDB, out of the 42,624 teams in the database at the time there were 2,129 sports teams that have reference to Native Americans (Munguia). That’s about a five percent of all mascots while Native American only make up roughly two percent of the population of the United States in 2014 (US Census). There has been much debate and controversy around mascots and team names that reference Native American throughout the years and gaining more attention especially with the most public debate regarding National

There is a large discussion about grade schools having Native American Mascots because it is exposing children to stereotypes before they are taught about their true culture in school. Some believe that it will rub off stereotypes that the Native American people are wild and dangerous and that all they do is hunt and kill. The thing is, people need to realize that the majority of Native Americans did live up to these ideals. Infact, the Seminoles had their own war which was named after them, yet people want us to think they did not kill

The Cleveland Indian’s baseball team is in the playoffs again. I have been attending class wearing my Indian’s apparel with the team symbol, Chief Wahoo, to show my support. But the political correctness crowd, keep trying to dampen my enthusiasm with their constant condemnation of that venerable, smiling caricature that has served the team so well. Over and over again, we hear how the innocent Wahoo symbol is disrespectful of American Indians. I just don’t buy that argument.

Do schools and professional teams using Native Americans as mascots do not affect Native Americans in a negative way. Joseph F. Healey and Eileen O'Brien say, “Simply putting on a mascot uniform isn't hurting anyone

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

The debate about changing the Cleveland name has been around for many ages. The mascot was designed in 1947. It is a fun loving, blue and red faced character, with a big nose smiling, and has a feather sticking out of his ear. Walter Goldbach (the designer of Chief Wahoo) is quoted to say “it was the last thing on my mind to offend someone”. (Ricca) Little did he know the debate that would come out of a single logo and a name in future years? In the world we live in today even the slightest comment can be one that causes discrimination. The Cleveland Plain Dealer: the big newspaper in Cleveland, says that they think the logo is not trying to discriminate against the Native American’s. (Brown) Native Americans have another view for

In fact, the charges of cultural appropriation are being hurled at every corner on the Unite. States: the art museum, the restaurant, the movie theater, the novel and, especially, the college campus. (Bari). I have met some appreciation in my life. As Ellison’s opinion, “the majority of cultural appropriation occurs during Halloween, when people think it's acceptable to don offensive dress. Many put on blackface, or brownface, as part of their costumes. Others simply come up with costumes meant to insult and demean another ethnicity or culture”. During the last Halloween, I met some white people who wore in ninja outfits in college during the Halloween. However, the outfits they wore actually did not show the real meaning of ninja. They merely cosplayed the characters of a Japanese animation named NARUTO. The real ninja is masked, and wear in black and looks low-key. Nonetheless, the costumes they wore in were more colorful and various. Those people do not really understand the histories of ninja, the reason why they wore in ninja outfits was simply, they thought it was interesting. Their behavior is similar to what Katy Perry has did. They altered others’ cognition to ninja as well. They may not tend to do it, but it was no denying that they appropriated from Japanese culture. Nowadays the phenomenon is common in Unite. States. However, nothing could be the excuse of neglecting other cultures and adopting them in an insensible manner. It is important to note that appreciation involves respect and value. It's okay to find things beautiful. It's better to appreciate it and learn more about it. Especially before you put an article of clothing on. Understanding the cultures sufficiently and avoiding appropriation are imperative before applying it. Otherwise, one’s ignorance would be revealed and shows rudeness. In a word, the situation of cultural appropriation should be