Sports 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

There has been many controversy with teams using Native American name for mascots and has become a major issue in today’s society. Many have viewed the Washington Redskins as honor for Native Americans, others see it racist, insensitive, and demeaning. Woods (2016) claims that “the complaint is that the use of stereotypical team names, mascots, and logos perpetuates an ideology that dehumanizes and demeans the cultures of Native Americans” (p. 298). Since the issue arise, many scholars, journalists and leaders have joined the battle to ensure that each team will eliminate the nicknames since it is considered abusive or hostile. It may take time but the trend is growing. More than 1,400 professional, collegiate,

Dating back several hundreds of years ago, Native Americans have been deprived, dehumanized, and demoralized ever since Christopher Columbus and his men came and seized the land from the Indigenous Peoples. There have been many tactics that have been used to strip the dignity of the Indigenous Peoples, but the use of an American Indian sports mascot is one tactic that has been in effect since 1932. There are some supporters of these various American Indian sports mascots such as Dan Snyder, the current team owner of the Washington Redskins, that do not feel that these sports mascots have any negative connotations. Dan Snyder may have had a few points when he wrote his letter, but he fails to realize that the American Indian Sports Mascots are

The controversy over the naming of sports teams after ethnic groups has been boiling since the mid-twentieth century. Sports teams in America, ranging from Pee-wee leagues, high schools, and colleges to Professional sports, have used any enumeration of nick names and mascots by which to represent their team with pride and sometimes even comedy. However, the lines of political correctness have been greatly and maybe even intentionally blurred in terms of the use of specific ethnic groups within team names and the use of the stereotypical image of those teams’ caricatures, the native-American in particular. Of the four major professional sports team franchises included in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL that do possess ethnic monikers, only two are of Caucasoid based ethnicity, whereas the other 5 are direct references to Native American ethnicity or stereotypes

Many people look at the Washington Redskins logo and see it just the same as any of the other NFL teams’ logos. So, why take the time and money to change their brand for the very few amount of people that think it’s little offensive? In the past couple of years, a lot of people see many pro and college sports teams differently because of their mascot or logo. Native Americans, whose culture diminished ever since Europeans stepped onto the shores of the East, are used as branding for all levels and divisions of athletics teams. A lot of people argue for both sides of the conflict, with one side reasoning that the logos look racist and disrespect Native American culture, and the other side reasoning that they honor Indians and there is not even an issue. However, a ton of people fighting for the Indian mascot’s removal do not know how Native Americans themselves truly feel about them. Also, the general public probably does not know either that many schools actually work with specific tribes to make sure that they respect their culture. The United States should not ban Native American mascots because most Native Americans don’t get insulted from sports teams’ logos and many teams work with tribes to make sure that they don’t disparage Indian customs and traditions.

The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team that is based out of Washington area and currently play at FedEx Field in Maryland. In 1932, the name Boston Braves emerged when the football program began to arise. The following year, the name the Boston Redskins replaced the original name of the Boston Braves. In 1937, the team changed locations to Washington, thus making their current team name the Washington Redskins. Unfortunately, a problem arose around the 1990’s when the Native American people began to feel “disrespected”. The reason the Native American people have such hatred for the team is due to the fact that it portrays and offends the Natives skin color with the name, “Redskin.” The Washington Redskins debate plays a significant role in professional sports team history due to the demoralization amongst Native American Society. Factors that contribute to this debate include, but are not limited to; religion, economics, and politics.

Have you thought about the name or mascot of your favorite sports team like the Chicago Blackhawks, the Washington Redskins, or even a college team like Florida State Seminoles? These teams and more have been accused of being racist towards Native Americans and their culture. However, many teams do not intentionally use their mascots to discriminate against Natives. Instead, they represent Native American Tribes and use names to respect the history of the tribal nation. Others would say that sports teams are just using those native titles to gain more fans. Also, natives would argue that professional sports teams are making fun of their tribes because of the decisions that the team has made about the way that the native cultures are portrayed. People would say that teams with native mascots have lack of respect towards Native Americans. However, many professional sports teams that are named after a native tribe are respectful towards the native heritage in ways such as having a partnership with the tribe, honoring a leader that the team was named after, and even helping out a tribe.

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

The names used by professional sports teams are offensive and perpetuate a blatant categorization of Native Americans that further Marginalizes them. Professional teams are the highest level of sport and therefore set an example for the rest of the industry and Americans themselves. By holding offensive names these teams are enabling a culture of racism in America that people learn to idolize and thus overlook. Numerous Native American organizations including the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), United South and Eastern Tribes Inc. (USET), and over 40 individual tribal governments across the country have spoken out about these professional teams and the disrespect they generate. (Ending the Era) “Redskins” is a term defined in the dictionary as a racial slur. It refers to the bloody scalps of Native Americans who were hunted and killed, then sold for bounties. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently canceled several of the Washington NFL team 's trademark registrations because they were found disparaging to Native communities. (Change the Mascot) Braves is a term that has been used to disparage Indian men by characterizing them all as fighters, it is a similar

The Change the Mascot campaign has made a website for people to see how big of topic this is to them. Also, on their website they’ve put out many other Native American tribes that support the changing of the name, ways to take action and even ways to contact them. They have a tab that shows the history of progress that shows that many team’s names and mascots have been changed from a racial Native American term to a more laid back name or mascot. They believe that the name and mascot should and will be changed to create more of non-racial effect among the Washington Redskins fans and community. Also, the Change the Mascot organization has put together a way to for non-Native American people to show their support by using the tag #ProudToBe Standing With #NotYourMascot on social media. Many native american tribes have actually sent out letters to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about changing the Washington Redskins name, logo and mascot. This is a national movement of Americans across the country, both Native and non-Native alike, who are standing against racism and strongly encouraging a

To start off, the cost of a university or sports team to have to change the name would be incredibly expensive for that team. The reason it would be so expensive for these organizations and teams is because they would have to replace the paint on the locker rooms, the stadium and the uniforms. For example, according to the Bleacher Report, the Oregon Ducks alone spent 1.3 million dollars on just uniforms. With 1.4 million dollars, you can buy a brand new Ferrari LaFerrari which can go over 217 mph! In effect of making teams change their names, it would cost a team alone over 1.3 million dollars.

The Cleveland Indians decided they are going to get rid of Chief Wahoo logo next year (Waldstein, 2018). Many Native Americans are happy, while others are not bothered with the decision. It may be a win for Native Americans for baseball, but for football not so much. Native Americans have questioned the use of the name Washington Redskins since the 1960’s. Yet, it didn’t receive national attention until the 1990’s. There have been many cases in which the Redskins logo was fought to remove the trademark owned by the Pro-Football Inc. In one landmark case that stood out to me was Pro-Football Inc vs Harjo.

While some people believe that the Redskins should not have to change their name, many people believe the term “redskin” is offensive and can negatively affect the Native-American people. Not only should the Washington Redskins have to change their name, so should other teams who has offensive name like the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Atlanta Braves “Tomahawk Chop.” Since 1992, when the first legal action against popped up, Native Americans activists have battled to change these football team names. They say that the term “redskin” is a derogatory term and that it is just as bad as the N word. They also believe that it has a negative effect on how they are perceived and their identity in today’s society. So not only should the Washington Redskins change their football team name, but other teams should as well, because it can be very offensive and hurtful towards the Native Americans.