...Native Americans, Struggles, Mascots, and Controversy There has been a national debate for years over Native American athletic mascots. “Members of the North Carolina Mascot Education and Action Group and the Guilford Native American Association, however, repeatedly told us that they perceived the use of Indian mascots, logos, caricatures, and similar images by our schools as a clear form of institutional racism” (Grier 2005: 51). In this paper we will discuss the controversial impact of the Native American stereotype used as mascots. In the early 1900’s when the threat of colonization was abolished Americans started to use the Native American mascot to show their acknowledgement of their struggles. Although this was symbolic it has been an ongoing controversy within schools and sports. California is the second highest state that uses the most Native American imagery and symbols. The importance of this contemporary issue is an ongoing debate in California that has impacted the true history of Native Americans and the battles they went through. The truth is crucial because their imagery and interpretation is misunderstood in American history. In the early 1900’s it became acceptable to use Native American imagery for advertisement. “One of the reasons why most Americans find the mascots unremarkable and do not turn a critical eye toward the mascots is because of the prevalence of similar images throughout U.S. popular culture” (King, et al 2002:391). Although years later...
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...point them out by their mascots and names. Little did we know that our team’s mascot or name may be offensive to a particular culture and has an underlying meaning. According to the Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indians, as early as 1912 Indian names for sports teams have been used in the professional sector. Following this example many high schools started naming their teams using Indian culture and the use of Indian inspired Mascots. We may like the way the teams name and its mascots suit them, but to the Native American...
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...did not discover it, the Africans made it to the Americas well before Columbus. There is also another thing Columbus did that he does not take credit for, the slaughter of the Native American people. As soon as Columbus set foot on the land and saw the Native Americans he wanted to slaughter them, he eventually did so for filling his urge. As more and more settlers arrived they stole the land and continued to kill the Native Americans, now only a small fraction exist. Fast forwarding 400 years, sports teams started using Native Americans as mascots, supposedly to commemorate and remember the Native Americans. There are professional sports teams who...
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...Mascot Name Changes Assignment 1) a) In the article by King and Springwood (2000), “Fighting Spirits: The Racial Politics of Sports Mascots”, the authors go into detail about how “whiteness” (at Ole Miss) and “redness” (at Florida State) have been used to create a controversial symbol of power that has produced a racial discrepancy between opposing races taking offense to the mascot used by both schools. In the case of Florida State University, the school has developed a mascot (Chief Osceola) that portrays the American Indian as an aggressive savage. “When Osceola leads the FSU football players onto the field, he signifies armed resistance, bravery, and savagery, and his appearance builds on the prevailing understandings of Indianness that construct Native Americans as aggressive, hostile, and even violent” (King and Springwood [2000], p. 285). This portrayal of savagery is at the heart of the arguments by native Indians to remove their names from colleges using their image as a motivational and war-like incentive. I have never viewed the mascots of colleges as being an offensive form of racial disparity, but this article made me view this issue from the other side and opened my eyes as to why groups of people may be offended by how their name is being represented to the public. For example, I grew up an avid sports fan, but history never really caught my interest. Therefore, my view of the American Indian is distorted from the reality of their true image because...
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...Life of a Native American Cultural Diversity January 14, 2012 Trina Hines Native Americans may be considered some sort of an outcast in our country but they are really the original founders of the United States. My people were the ones that were here when the European settlers arrived and began to explore the United States. It was a very awkward and complicated situation because they came over to the Americas with intentions to claim the land for themselves and settle here, when we thought the land was already our own. As part of our good nature, our leaders did try to negotiate the land and our living situations with the European leaders to the best of their ability. Many people may not understand how difficult the life of a Native American used to be like when we first began to come across those of other races and face the issues of everyday living amongst them. It has constantly been a long hard road for us of Native American race and culture. Our people were considered the first to live in the Americas, prior to the people of European descent, thus giving us the name Native Americans. Although we tried to cooperate with the European people and come to an agreement over the land, we were successful to no avail. The Europeans turned to methods such as scalping to torture my people and make us give up the most valued land. When this began to happen, many of our group decided to retreat to our own areas...
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...objectification of Native American figures, symbols, and culture is prevalent in many schools and professional sports teams across America today (Chaney, Burke and Burkley 43). Nearly 1,200 high schools and 90 colleges in the United States use Native Americans as their school mascot (Chaney, Burke and Burkley 43). Throughout football games, pep-rallies, and other school related events, fans chant Native American war chants and dress in stereotypical cartoon-like costumes (Pewewardy 181). Although some people would argue that these symbols are intended to honor Native Americans, they often portray them in an inauthentic and clichéd manner (Chaney, Burke and Burkley 43). Because of this, the barbaric, wild, and savage mascots have become a representation of the Native American...
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...do ideas and opinions shift over time? How do these changes impact our lives? Culture? Community? • How can reading literature from various cultures influence our thinking? • What is the best way to express our point of view to others? • How can we convince others to understand our point of view? Goal: You will read and view several selections that reflect multiple viewpoints on the same topic and develop and express an opinion on an issue based on the evidence presented. You will develop a product that expresses your point of view about the use of Native American mascots for school or sport teams. Role: You will assume the role of an avid sports fan or the resident of a community that has a sports team with a Native American mascot. Audience: The president of the professional sports team, president of the college or university, or local school board (all with Native American mascots) Situation: Recently Houston ISD joined a growing list of organizations that no longer allows the use of Native American names as mascots for their teams or school. Stanford University, for example, changed its mascot from the Indian to a redwood tree in 1972, and others have followed suit after an NCAA ban and public outrage over what is considered by some to be ethnically offensive stereotypes that belittle Native Americans. Others believe that these names are embraced by fans who are honoring the heritage and history of the American Indian. Your challenge is to review all of the documents...
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...Portfolio 3: Native American Mascot Controversies within Sports Throughout the history of sports, Native American Indian mascots, symbols, and names have been incorporated nationwide. The propriety of using Native American mascots and images in sports has been a topic of debate in the United States and Canada since the 1960s. Americans have had a history of drawing inspiration from native peoples and "playing Indian" that dates back at least to the 18th century. “The controversy surrounding the use of Indian mascots, symbols, and names in American sports has origins that run deep throughout the history of Indian and non-Indian relations (American Indian Issues 1).” Today, the use of Indian mascots is at the center of an argument that touches the emotional hearts and souls of both proponents and opponents. Therefore, (I believe) sport team owners and the franchises themselves have, metaphorically, progressed imperialism upon the Native American philosophy. Native Americans were exploited almost from the moment Europeans arrived on this continent, pushed and shoved off their land for centuries until they were confined to the reservations that are now common across the south and midwestern parts of the United States. Nick Dewitt of the Bleacher Report responded to the issue stating: “It's been a prickly topic for years, even decades. It spans not just every professional sport, but collegiate sports as well. Depending on who you talk to, it's a stain on the organizations it affects...
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...The Native Americans were treated with no respect. “The term “Indian” and most other names of major Native American groups are terms of convenience applied by White Americans. In most history books, not one of the major Native American groups is recorded under its own name,” (Hall, 2011). Native Americans have different tribes and have culturally diverse groups, about over 500 tribes. Over the years, time and centuries the Native Americans have been misunderstood and mistreated, even by their own conquerors. “The European immigrants who followed Christopher Columbus did not understand the native people any more than the Native Americans comprehended their invaders,” (Hall, 2011). Columbus made a comment about the Native Americans in his diary saying, “It appears to me that the people [of the New World] are ingenious and would be good servants. . . . These people are very unskilled in arms. . . . With fifty men they could all be subjected to do all that one wishes,” (Hatchet, G. (2000). This obviously grew conflict between the Native Americans and the Whites. As for Columbus Day, each year the Native Americans protest Columbus Day. The protest includes and demonstrates the history and the importance of examining and searching for the real and true facts beyond what has been printed in text books. These protest allow Native Americans to have further investigation and discussion by historians about the actual events that took place. I think we need to have a better understanding...
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...end of the Plains Indian Wars. The United States defeated all violent resistance by Native American people in the West and were able to succeed in their goal of Manifest Destiny, complete control of the West. By the end of the Plains Indian Wars, tribes were all living on reservations under United States government control and many aspects of their culture were damaged by the fighting. The United States, even though they won almost complete control of the West from the Plains Indian War, still wanted to push forward on the goal of having Native Americans conform to United States culture and eventually become “real Americans”. This is the same goal that the United States had about Native Americans for hundreds of years, but in the late 19th century the strategy to achieve this goal was shifting. Tactics of violence were attempted to be replaced with education, strict laws based around family and land, removal of reservations and tribal organization, and Christian beliefs. The Merrill Gates’s report emphasizes...
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...issue of sport teams having Native American names is something that I have discussed numerous times in the past. I am a Washington Redskins fan as well as a Florida State Seminoles fan. I do believe that neither team nor the other teams, car companies or the military feel that the use of Native American names is derogatory or racist in any way. I agree with their use and although some might feel I am unsympathetic, I believe that the use of these names is meant to be more honorary then racist. Although dictionaries state the definition of the word redskin is a racial descriptor of negative intent, the Oxford Dictionary states the following and many other sources agree that it was not originally a negative meaning: “Redskin is first recorded in the late 17th century and was applied to the Algonquian peoples generally but specifically to the Delaware (who lived in what is now southern New York State and New York City, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania). Redskin referred not to the natural skin color of the Delaware, but to their use of vermilion face paint and body paint. In time, however, through a process that in linguistics is called pejoration, by which a neutral term acquires an unfavorable connotation or denotation, redskin lost its neutral, accurate descriptive sense and became a term of disparagement.” This topic is in the news recently as some are currently fighting to have the courts make the Washington Redskins change their name. At this point, many people:...
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...Washington Redskins Logo The Washington Redskins are a football team in the NFL (National Football League). Their logo and mascot is a Native American Indian. Using Native Americans names or symbols by non-native people is a form of controlling images and the three pillars of white supremacy in particular colonialism (Erickson, 2017). The Washington’s team logo/mascot could be considered harmful due to the nature of the image. For instance, the word “redskin” can be perceived derogatory. It is believed that it came from early American settlers that referenced the skin color of Native Americans thus creating “redskin”. This logo and mascot are being appropriated from the Native American Culture, and the “redskin” term should be a legitimately...
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...Native American Representation: Culture and Society People all across the globe treasure their heritage, hoping that it will be passed brown for generations, and that the world will honor that history really . In America today, Native Americans and their descendants are pleading with the world to give them positive representation that has been taken from them throughout the ages. The majority of America is content with pushing Native Americans to the side. In retaliation, the Native American community is coming together to save their culture and leads the fight toward increased representation of modern Native Americans. The Native American culture flourished before the Europeans discovered it, filled with morals and heart in their religion,...
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...American and Native Culture The American culture differed in many ways from the Native Americans. The American culture thrived in advancement of technology and wanted succeed in life at the expense of others. They thought of the Native American as savages and didn’t really recognize them as human beings. All they really wanted was there land to build industries, farming, homes, and mine for gold, etc. The land could supply so much lumber to build homes and fences to grow a colony. The new production of technology in agriculture helped out farmers from hard labor and being able to do the task much faster. As for the Native Americans they lived a more humble culture as they did everything on their own to provide for their family. They hunted, farmed, made their own clothes, thought their children’s old traditions. You could say they lived a life free of corruption and manipulation. The only rivals they had were tribes that did not see eye to eye on certain things or over land; which would be common. Free of diseases, wars, and greed they would soon face a vicious society that would tarnish everything they believed, Americans. There was four major treaties and legislation that the U.S. government had in place against the Native Americans. In 1863, the Nez Perce Treaty was signed illegally on behalf of the whole tribe, this document forfeited 6 million acres of land in return for a small piece of land northeast of Oregon. The Nez Perce wars followed for about 14 years which ended...
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...Christopher Columbus first came in contact with the native people in Americas, where he stated, “They all go around as naked as their mothers bore them, and the women. He also said that “ they could easily be commanded and made to work, to sow, and to do whatever might be needed, to build towns and be taught to wear clothes and adapt our ways, “ and “they are the best people in the world and above all the gentlest.” This was the very first instance were Native Americans were marginalized, which would soon turn into a long lasting and suffering venture for them. Today, after hundreds of years, society has grown and many minorities have gained recognition and empowerment. Although, a lot of people believe that the discrimination against...
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