The Controversy Of Indian Mascots Essay

All sports teams have a mascot cherished by fans across the country. However teams like the Washington Redskins and the Atlanta braves have fallen under fire for their references to Native American culture.All sports teams names that reference native Americans should be allowed because they are just names and shouldn't be viewed as offensive, and some teams that change their name or logo may lose some of their fan base.

Should the Washington Redskins change their team name due to controversy with Native Americans? That has been the questions since the 1980s. There are many different views on the issue. Some people believe the name should stay, some insist it should be changed, and others are ultimately indifferent. In the end, changing the name is the definite right choice, the Washington Redskins name is offensive to the Native American people and therefore it must go. The name is not only offensive to the Native American people, but people outside of Native American 's find issue with it, and it also promotes ethnic stereotyping.

Teams in every sport, at every level of competition, have a mascot. It is the mascot that represents the competitive spirit and team identity, motivating players and fans alike. Does the symbol chosen have any impact on whether a team wins or loses? Unlikely. But the choice of a Native American mascot continues to ignite debate and controversy among athletes, fans and alumni, as well as those people who might otherwise be disinterested in sports. Utilizing an Indian mascot is nothing more than a veiled attempt at hate speech.

When one typically thinks about a Native American, they picture this ideological representation of a Native American as depicted by popular culture. Native Americans are underrepresented on television, in books, in news, and all other forms of media. We, as a society, have chosen a path of ignorance in which we have chosen not to educate ourselves or our future generations on the true culture of Native Americans. We have ignored the negative impacts of using mascots such as “Redskins” and instead let it serve as a stereotype to fill our heads with unrealistic views and understandings of Native American culture. The resulting misconceptions leave many Native American students with a feeling of inferiority and questioning their self-worth.

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 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

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

     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

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

There is no legitimate argument for why an arrowhead on the side of a football helmet, a logo of a Native American chief’s head on the side of a school or even a tomahawk on a basketball jersey is being reverted to as degrading, but the controversy still continues. Some names can be offensive such as Redmen, Savages, etc. But if it is the name itself that offends, it needs to be argued that way and not toward the Native American mascot as a symbol. Arguing a mascot as degrading when really it is meant the name is disrespectful in itself because a mascot is a symbol of a team, not the name; it is also the strength and core of a team. Mascots are purposely portrayed as being ethical, complementary, and respectful, in fact “tribal names find their way onto all kinds of consumer products, such as the Jeep Cherokee and the Dodge Dakota. For the same reason, Indian images appear on U.S. currency, such as the old Indian-head nickel and the new Sacajawea dollar. The Army even names its helicopters after tribes: the Apache Longbow, the Kiowa Warrior, the Comanche, and the Blackhawk. If we were” to let the minority side of this argument change Native American mascots, then “a number of cities (e.g., Chicago, Miami, and Milwaukee), plus about half the states, would have to be renamed (Miller 2001). Mascots are symbols, symbols of spirit, and symbols of strength.

The use of Native Americans as mascots or team names has developed an issue that has been drawing controversy in today’s society. The question that must be asked then is: Why do we as a society quietly permit such disrespectful and hurtful conduct towards Native Americans continue, without taking any affirmative action to restrict it? Having people who run around in war paint and headdresses whooping it up at the sport games doesn’t honor anyone’s culture. It just praises racism and encourages people to learn nothing about Native American culture making mascots and team names insulting.

The main issue with Indian mascots and stereotypes is that they are presenting a misleading image of Native people and feed historic myths to an audience which then is used to whitewash a history of oppression.Although people think that Indian mascots are meant to show the good qualities of American Indians they do not. “Indians sport brands used by professional teams were born in an era when racism