27 April 2014 Native American’s Fight Against Stereotypes

Professor Kumpulainen

English 111

27 April 2014

Native American’s Fight Against Stereotypes

It is thought that naming teams and their mascots after Indian tribes and their chiefs is extremely disrespectful and demeaning. Many believe this because the names of teams and mascots is often a stereotype. Jack Shakley, who wrote the article “Indian Mascots--You’re Out!,” would agree that many stereotypes in the media and popular culture are demeaning and disrespectful. Thesis not clear: it is not about Shakley’s viewpoint.

Shakley’s personal experience is an interesting one, “being mixed-blood Muscogee/Creek,” he bought a cap with Chief Wahoo on it, cs when he got home, his mother ripped it from his head and threw it away. (520). + His mother had fought stereotypes for the majority of her life, and did not appreciate the team nicknames and mascots (520). Many people, and especially tribes, protest Native American sports team nicknames and mascots, but quite a bit of people are not bothered by such ridicule. People do not understand that some of the team names and mascots are culturally offensive, and that does not dignify the culture that ithey offends. For instance, in the 1970s, when Shakley watched an Atlanta Braves game, whenever the team hit a home run the “cringe-worthy Chief Noc-A-Homa” would exit his teepee from center field war-dancing. (522) The mascot, who was dressed in chief’s wear, made a fool of himself, which comes across as extremely disrespectful to the customs of Indian tribes. Changing the team names and the mascots is the right thing to do, even if those particular teams have been around for a while.

There have been many teams that have changed their mascots to satisfy tribes and their people. “The University of Illinois’ Fighting Illini, for example, refers to an Indian nation, but now that its Chief Illiniwek mascot has been abandoned, few people make the connection.” (521) It may not even be that the mascot is a dishonor, but it is just menacing and the way they behave is disrespectful. Many people feel that if the team was to change their mascot to a more honorable and worthy mascot, then they whom? would not have that big of a problem with it. On the other hand, there are universities that have been around for a long time that do not want to change their name and mascot. The Florida State Seminoles are among those universities, and quite frankly is the biggest controversial team with a Native American name. Their mascot is the great Chief Osceola, and the way the mascot is portrayed is quite menacing. Eventually, the tribe and the University came to an agreement. As long as the tribe and the team are in agreement, then it should be allowed as long as that mascot is not disrespectful to Native American culture.

Native Americans should not be an exception in naming mascots and sports teams. Everyone is entitled to be treated equally and disrespecting them with ridiculous interpretations of their culture is not doing so. You do not see baseball teams named after Jackie Robinson, with a crazy little black man as their mascot running around center field. No one would ever bother to name a team after any other ethnic group, so it should not be okay to do so for the Native Americans. Many may feel that because the Native Americans were the first to be on this continent that it is an honor, but what may have been a seemingly worthy action turned around when those teams used menacing mascots. “As benign as monikers like Fighting Sioux and Redskins or mascots like Chief Osceola may seem, they should take their place with the Pekin, Ill., Chinks and the Atlanta Black Crackers in the dust bin of history.” (522)

Native Americans should be given the choice to agree with the team names and mascots that are being named after them and portray them. There are even associations, such as the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, who seek to fight the common argument that Native American mascots, nicknames, and images are used to honor the Indians and their culture by using honorable logos and mascots. Those associations want to prove that Native Americans are people, not mascots and should be treated as such like so. “It is the right thing to do.” (522)

Emma, Overall, you have done a good job. Note area marked within the essay and the Works Cited page. 92

Works Cited