Friday, January 30, 2009
Mascot Discusssion
Over the years there has always been a great amount of discussion over the use of Native American figures for mascots in sports. I myself am part Cheyenne Indian and to me I don't a problem with the use in the sports world. I understand that there is proper way of using these symbols and sometimes the proper way isn’t always followed. Most of the representations are ok but there are some situations where they can be wrong such as the Indians that do the dances with the face paint that which are not historically accurate. For most of these cases the teams are not trying to make fun or bash these tribes, but because they do not consult anyone who is affiliated with these tribes, they end up doing harm. Teams such as the Cleveland Indians and the Florida St. Seminoles are on the edge of being offensive, but they their name and mascots are more generalized. When the teams choose these nicknames, they try to get the passion and emotion that mascots posses such as tigers and patriots. The various indian tribe were fierce warriors and that is the exact passion that these teams are looking for to describe their teams.
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Thanks for sharing your perspective and your background that informs your perspective. I appreciate your observations about the offensive nature of some representations. From all that I have read, I believe the Washington Redskins is the most offensive, especially given what the dictionary and video said about the meaning of the term "redskin." In the case of Florida State, that is one school that has consulted with Seminole Indians, in an attempt to "get it right" in their representations. In fact, they were one of the few schools that was exempt from the NCAA sanctions imposed on schools with Native American mascots. My hope is that more schools and professional teams will do away with the use of offensive mascots.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a journal entry regarding this issue. I think this is completely unethical and needs to be changed. I have developed a strong point of view for this and think that this is degrating and embarrassing to Native Americans. Even if a mascot offends 1% of the Native Americans, it should be changed. Even to this day even though we have laws in order to keep equality, I feel Native Americans are still powerless politically and financially. These mascots are humiliating to their culture and should not be exploited the way they are today.
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