The Pros And Cons Of Racism

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.

A native man being called a redskin, first time he’d ever heard the word and being offended by it.Now, that same word is the name of a football team known as The Washington Redskins.Ole Miss Rebels, a football team, had to rename the team in order to not be racist towards African Americans. The Washington Reskins, years after knowing people were emotionally hurt by the name, kept it.Many Natives protest and refuse to be a mascot, but yet the name is still on their jerseys. The Washington Redskins are aware that they are invidious to some Native Americans, but fail to change the name and feel the need to keep it.

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.

Teams that have the name like Redskins, Indians, and Red Raiders are racist terms used as mascots. Interchange the name with the Negroes, the Jews or the Asians and that sounds even worse but, it all means the same thing. They are all racist terms that no one should use to represent something like a team name. According to racismagainstindians.org, Native Americans were banned from practicing their own religion and would be often thrown in jail if they were caught all the way up to 1978. But when nonnative people at sporting events would dance and sing their songs it would be completely okay. This makes no sense,

Do you think America is institutionally racist? Who is at a disadvantage? Institutional racism means that there is a systematic way for certain groups of people to be put on a lower level or have a disadvantage than another group of people. There was definitely institutional racism in America about fifty years ago, and I know that because I can name specific institutions who were racist to the black minority. But in order for anyone to fight modern day institutional racism, you have to tell me what company is being racist, tell me why, and we can fight that together. Unfortunately for those who believe there is still institutional racism in America, they can’t name a business and why. Running around and yelling “there’s racism in America” doesn’t

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 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

How have the Cleveland Indians been able to get away with such a culturally demeaning mascot without a significant public outcry? Our cultural absolutism along with our naivety places Native Americans on subhuman animalistic level and feeds our unconscious notion that the logo is harmless.

Another, a director pf the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma claimed that he takes a neutral stance on the issue. He reasoned, “’ I don’t see anything wrong with Indian nicknames as long as they’re not meant to be derogatory’” (Price 63). Majority when asked about this issue mentioned similar statements. Can we avoid the historical context of words? Michael Yellow Bird, an associate professor of social work at Arizona State mentioned just that. He challenged, “’If people think this is how to honor us, then colonization has really taken hold’” (Price 64). He as well as others brought up the history of Native Americans and their partial extermination, being forgotten, cheated of their own land. Bird like others questions how these mascots and names honor the Natives. And how can Natives themselves be indifferent about this subject. S. L. Price offers a wide range of evidence from people that are on both ends of the spectrum about this issue.

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.

“The Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies at California State University in San Bernardino surveyed 400 individuals, 98 of them Native Americans, and found that 67 percent of Native Americans agreed the "Redskins team name is a racial or racist word and symbol."” (Steele). Some mascots are offensive and racist to certain cultures and races. In, 2005, the NCAA banned schools with Native American mascots from hosting a national championship game (ProQuest Staff). Changing the mascot won’t change the history of the school or team. Some people feel unwelcome because of certain mascots. Some mascots should be banned because they are stereotypical, dishonor cultures, and are offensive.

The Redskins logo, that the NFL presented to Washington, in Native American terms is different than what they think it means. The Washington Redskins, NFL team, isn’t what they think the term Redskin really means. The term Redskin means “The scalping and killing of Native Americans”(Charli Eaton). When terms like this go too far they should listen to the Native Americans and respect the Natives of the land of America.

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

Native Americans have been in this land long before the European explorers stumbled upon it. With the discovery of the “new world”, people from all over Europe were sailing over to America for new opportunities. The result was that the Native Americans already living in that land were almost wiped out. Now, only a small percentage of what once was remain. Even though Native Americans are a small minority, they get a lot of attention in the media, especially in sports. Many sports teams have a name related to Native Americans, like the Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago Blackhawks. They usually also have a Native American mascot, which is often the image of a chief wearing feathers. Some people find this to be offensive to Native Americans and they want to change it, while others say that it’s not offensive. But the truth is somewhere in the middle. Using Native American names and mascots can be harmful or honourable