Racial Sports Tensions

There is a great controversy dealing with sports and school mascots still going on today. Native Americans have spoken up about mascots that offend them. As white Americans, many of us don't know the Native American history, but for many years they didn't have a voice. Well now they do and they are taking a stand on this issue.

Today, many schools and teams have names and logos that are offensive to Native Americans. We don't realize this as much because for years and years we as kids have "played Indian" and didn't think anything of it. We don't realize that as kids and as adults we all are exposed to the Native American stereotype that they ride horses, do chants, are crazily religious, and wear feathers in their hair. We borrowed names like the Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, and the Florida State Seminoles all from Native American concepts. The word Indian is not an appropriate name for a Native American and the term Redskin is even worse. On top of that, the mascots and team symbols are also degrading to the people and their heritage.

Many Native American people are pushing for the names, symbols, and mascots of the teams to be changed. They don't think its fair to use Indian and Redskin as a term referring to their race of people. Also, the mascots and symbols are not true to what a Native American looks like. Take Chief Illiniwick for instance, he was the Indian mascot for the University of Illinois that used to dance around at halftime of the football and basketball games. The school said that Chief Illiniwick's dance was an "authentic and traditional Native American dance" when it really wasn't. Many people then stood up against the school because he was said to be mocking the Native American race and their customs. He was stereotyping them as being crazy people that paint their faces, wear big feather headdresses, and dance around. They eventually banned him from doing the show anymore because it was considered hostile and abusive. Below is Chief Illiniwick's last dance at an Illinois basketball game in 2007.



On the other side, many people are opposing changing the names of the rest of the teams considered offensive. First of all, many people cannot handle change. When fans have been rooting for their team for a very long time, they don't want to mess with tradition. The majority of people would be upset if their team had to change it's name. Others say that the names and symbols are not meant to be abusive to Native Americans, but are meant to pay tribute to their race and all they have been though. Kurt Swanson, vice president of the Washington Redskins, said the name Redskins, "Symbolizes courage, dignity, and the greatness and strength of a grand people." So many of the people that named the teams years ago had good intentions, and today they still think that they are just honoring the Native Americans.



In my opinion, the names and symbols that are considered offensive need to be removed. What would happen if we had a team named the Washington Blackskins? The Cleveland Jews? The Atlanta Whites? It would be a big deal and be really offensive to the races of people living here, right? So why isn't it a big deal to use these names for the Native American race? Yes, they are a minority group in this situation because they want the team names changed, but if it brings offense to them I think as Americans we should just deal with the changing tradition. America is about freedom and not discriminating against anybody, so we need to change the names and logos of the teams to something less demeaning.

I was really happy to hear some schools are changing their mascots willingly, and not just because they have to. For example Marquette University used to be named the Warriors, but changed their name to the Golden Eagles instead, the president of the school said this: "We live in a different era than when the Warriors nickname was selected in 1954. The perspective of time has shown us that our actions, intended or not, can offend others. We must not knowingly act in a way that others will believe, based on their experience, to be an attack on their dignity as fellow human beings."

I agree with what some schools and teams are doing by making an effort to change, but I think it needs to happen in professional sports as well. The Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Braves, and Cleveland Indians still use the same logos that portray Native Americans in a negative way.

Washington Redskins

Chief Wahoo (Cleveland Indians)

The First thing I think of when I see theses logos is that the Native American race is being cartooned and pretty much being made fun of. This is not the vision that should pop into a persons head of what a Native American is, but unfortunately for so many Americans that is the case. That is because at the games of these teams, fans dress up to look like the stereotype of being Native American.

The last reason why I think the teams names should be changed is that some of the things we say as fans of teams can be very wrong and derogatory towards the Native American race. As a total Dallas Cowboys fan, i even find myself making comments. The Washington Redskins are a big rivalry for the Cowboys, and at games people, including myself, shout things like "Kill the Redskins!!" Now how do you think that makes a redskin, an offensive term for Native American, feel? You are essentially saying "Kill the Native Americans!!" and to me, that is just not right.