Symbol Of Respect

Proponents believe tribal symbols display honor and respect towards the Native American people. They cheer that the inclusion of this iconography in the athletic arena serves to pay admiration and ongoing tribute to the identity of the Native American culture. They believe that rather than extinguishing Native American mascots as a symbolic reference for schools and sports teams, the choice to sensitively use such imagery should be without sanction.

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

Sports teams use "Indian," as well as many other mascots with related themes, to honor those who are native to

Thus, it seems odd to suggest that naming a team after an Indian tribe is a calculated insult. A team or school embraces a mascot that represents the favorable traits and characteristics of its members. Such is the case with the Florida State Seminoles, who are named after a tribe with its origin in that southern state. The Seminole tribe optimistically favored the use of the Indian mascot and even facilitated the design of authentic dress that is proudly worn at sporting and community events. Similar to the Seminoles, the University of Illinois preserved their mascot, Chief Illiniwek, for almost 80 years. Named after the indigenous Illiniwek tribe, the Chief was a customary sideline figure at football and basketball games until 2007 when the NCAA forced the University of Illinois to remove this historic mascot. Unfortunately, the collegiate governing body failed to realize what this symbol meant to the collegiate Illinois community. Illini students were polled regarding the action and a majority disapproved of the decision. Sixty-nine percent of the students voted to keep Chief Illiniwek as their mascot. (Haugh). These students believed that removing Chief Illiniwek as the University of Illinois’ mascot would diminish the passion associated with their university. After the forceful removal of the Native American mascot by the NCAA, the students felt

San Diego State University changed their mascot of Monty Montezuma from a bare chested macho man to a graceful ambassador. (Cart, 3). Some people feel that school’s named after certain people like Martin Luther King Jr. are alright, but there should not be mascots depicting them. Making mascots that depict certain people is just asking for trouble. When sports are involved with that mascot, things will be said about that mascot that would just be wrong. Like at a football game when a team is playing another team with a Martin Luther King Jr. mascot, they might have a sign that says “Murder the Kings.” That is just something that is unacceptable and unrespectable for someone to say. So team mascots should no be able to be named after certain people.

To start the article, Shakley tells the audience a story about the time he came home with a Cleveland Indians hat with the famous Chief Wahoo logo (The Cleveland Indians mascot is Chief Wahoo and is one of the most controversial mascots in American sports). This hat was later thrown in the trash by his mother (that had been fighting against Native American stereotypes her whole life), who Shakley describes as having “the look of betrayal”. Shakley uses strong words to describe his negative opinion on Native American mascots by stating that the North Dakota Fighting Sioux provoked a feeling in him that was embarrassed and angry. Shakley described it as “It was an irritant, like a long forgotten piece of shrapnel working its way to

The American Psychological Association had found that using representation of the mascots “undermines the educational experiences of members of all communities- especially those who have had little or no contact with Indigenous peoples” (APA). When people view a culture being paraded as a mascot, it can become their singular view and knowledge on the ethnic group. There is nothing to stop the formulation of what students know about Native Americans when there are few natives around. With the allowance of mascots to represent Native American in a way as they do now, wearing headdresses or war paint and using “peace pipes” has become a trend and something “cool” to do. Headdresses are traditionally a part of the Plains tribes and are considered sacred. Only revered warriors or significant people could wear war bonnets or headdresses. Feathers, especially eagle feathers, are very sacred to Native Americans. These appropriations continue to be a negative and demeaning aspect of using Native Americans as

In November of 1970, a group of Natives came together to fight the issue of Stanford’s mascot – the “Indian”. Since 1930, the Stanford athletic teams had a big-nosed caricature of an “Indian” to serve as their mascot. The Natives petitioning for a new mascot fought the issue on the grounds that the “Indian” made Native religious practices seem ridiculous and that using a race of people for entertainment through the performances by Timm Williams, also known as Prince Lightfoot, was unethical and should be discontinued.

Native Americans see this issue of mascots as a topic that needs discussion. This discussion is seen by Native Americans as a way to learn about their culture as written by Paul Lukas in an interview with Frank Cloutier, a Native American man,

Chiefs, Braves, Redskins, and more have been the mascots for schools, and sports teams for over 60 years. Countless universities throughout the U.S withhold Native American logos, whom many take offense to, while others believe it’s an honor. Current Events magazine (Doc 1), Oregonlive.com article (Doc 5), and Dan Snyder (video) all come to a consensus that Native American mascots represent and glorify rather than slur and insult. With this, The best approach to this situation is to allow the sports teams and schools to choose their mascots for themselves.

Others say that the logos should be taken down because they are offensive to some Native Americans. “Although school names and other symbols evoke strong emotions of solidarity among followers, there is also a potential dark side to their use. The symbols may dismiss, differentiate, demean, and trivialize marginalized groups such as African-Americans, Native Americans, and women”(Kelly). The names, mascots, logos, and flags chosen may be derogatory to some groups. In reality, the mascots and symbols are a sense of pride and spirit for students and their schools.

FSU the only school that continues to use the Indian images for both its mascot and its logo, and the Seminole tribe has given its wholehearted support. At FSU football games, Osceola, the Seminole warrior, rides an appaloosa horse named Renegade. Playing the warrior – whose clothing is designed by Seminoles – is considered a privilege, he is not even perceived as a mascot. The federal government waged three wars against the Seminoles during the 1800’s to make the Indians’ land available to white settlers. Tribe members, in the meantime, were expected to vacate their land and live on a federal reservation in Oklahoma. The Seminoles put up fierce resistance and never surrendered. The remnant of the tribe that remained lived in the Florida Everglades. After the third war ended in 1858, the government halted its efforts to relocate the Seminoles. That’s why they are often referred to as “the unconquerable people.” Over the years, Florida State has made a conscious effort to make tribal members an active and visible part of campus life. For example: tribal members travel to Tallahassee each year to crown the homecoming chief and princess, who dress in authentic Seminole regalia, and at every university commencement, tribe members wear brightly colored Seminole clothing to serve as the color guard.

The seal of California has many interesting symbols. I have six of them on mine. My first one is the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a very big and popular suspension bridge. I also have the California Poppy. It is California’s state flower. Most think it is illegal to pick the state poppy, but it is not. It is only illegal if it is on the State’s property. You can blend, eat, or bend it. You can do practically anything with it! Another good symbol is gold. It represents the gold rush that happened in California in 1848. On the top of the seal, there is a sign that says !EUREKA! Which means: I found it! The golden trout resembles California’s state fish. The last one is the mountains. They represent the Sierra Nevada. Sierra Nevada means snowy

Some 30 miles from Sarajevo in a small town of Konjic there is an enormous and perfectly preserved nuclear bunker, a leftover relic from The Cold War embedded deep inside a remote mountain. It has recently been converted into an art gallery, and “A Sign For Remembrance” (2011) was created as a permanent sign that was installed outside just a few meters from its entrance (and exit). The sign, too, responds to the possibility of a nuclear attack. Curator Branislav Dimitrijevic notes the irony of Military Installation D-10; “Tito spent lavishly on safeguards against a nuclear attack, but his Yugoslavia was ultimately destroyed by an extremely bloody conventional conflict”. Transformation resulted in a self-contained space commodified for visitors

When discussing the use of symbols in both Durkheim and Strauss’ works, it is important for us to look at how both thinkers talk about the categories of understanding. In Elementary Forms, Durkheim believes the categories of understanding are grounded in the social, using Australian totemism to explain how the primitive mind used symbols derived from collective thought to create the ways in which we categorize ideas in society today. In saying this, he was adopting both an empiricist and a priori approach in explaining the categories. He states that the categories are inherent to human nature, but only