Native American Mascots

Two weeks ago, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) issued a decree to all its members that schools who use culturally offensive mascots (like Native Americans for example) would not be allowed to hosts postseason events like Bowl Games or March Madness. The schools have been given several months to comply, after which time the NCAA will enforce its rules. I don’t understand why the NCAA didn’t go further and make the use of such mascots illegal during the regular season as well, but I do applaud them for taking a major step in the right direction.

One week after the NCAA made its decree, the US Pentagon said that it would no longer use Native American tribal names (or any moniker that has been used to describe Native Americans) for names of its tactical maneuvers or weapons. Now this only applies to the fleet of planes and the department that defends the Pentagon, and does not include the Army, Navy, etc. This too is a major step forward.

When this land, the USA, was “founded” some centuries back, it was home to the American Indian (Native Americans). In typical European Imperialistic fashion, the inhabitants of this “New World” were turned into slaves, murdered, and forced off of their land (not to mention given fatal foreign diseases). And despite the amicable story we’ve all come to know surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, the complete story concerning Native Americans and “the White man” includes the decimation, denigration, moral degradation, and displacement of Native Americans by their foreign conquerors. The women were raped, the men were murdered, and those that survived were forced to travel “the Trail of Tears,” along which a million Native people died.

Fast forward to the year 2005, and you have a nation of over 300 million diverse people; black, brown, red, yellow, and white. Of that diverse pallet of over 300 million people, the American Indian makes up less than 1%. Despite their lack of population representation (and maybe because of it), they make up a far greater number of racially/culturally insensitive mascots than any other group of people living here. In fact, I can think of about 15 schools or athletic teams that use Native Americans as their mascot, while I can only think of two such cases using any other group (Notre Dame “Fighting Irish” and the Boston “Celtics”). I can’t think of any other group’s image or name being used for the name of military maneuvers or weapons (like the Apache Helicopter or Operation Tomahawk).

Now on the point of using Native American names for weapons of war and war missions, can’t you see the pernicious situational irony in that? This nation’s armed services is making a conscious move to name weapons of war after a group of people that it decimated through war tactics. Many Native Americans see it as a slap in the face. It’s like saying, “Ha ha, we destroyed you all with these tactics, and so we’ll name the tactics after you and use them to destroy other people.” In my opinion, I think the other armed services should take after the Pentagon’s lead and do away with such naming.

On the hot-button point of Indians as mascots, I don’t see what the problem is; get rid of them. Any of hundreds of things can be used as mascots for your school or athletic team; from weather and celestial presences (Lightning or Stars), to animals or mythical beings (Bears or Griffins). Why in the world is it necessary to use, rather, misuse the images of a group of people such as the American Indian? And yes these representations are racist because they play upon stereotypes that are often unfounded (and if you don’t think they’re racist, then you’re racist too).

Central Michigan University Chippewa’s, the Washington Redskins, the Chicago Blackhawks, The University of Illinois Fighting Illini, The Florida State Seminoles, The Cleveland Indians (affectionately known as “the Tribe” by fans and Sports writers/commentators). All of these schools (public universities at that) and sports teams should be ashamed of themselves, and should indeed be penalized until they change their mascots (and really, upon reading this post, you should look up the school or sports team and look at the image they use and actually see the racism; like the cheesy-grinned, red-faced Cleveland Indian.).

Or maybe we should socially regress and begin naming teams/schools after other races. Instead of Washington Redskins, let’s change the name to Washington Rednecks and make the mascot a corn-fed white man in overhauls with a mullet. Instead of Cleveland Indians, let’s change the name to Cleveland Niggers and have the mascot be a wide-nosed, afro-wearin’ black man with a Cash Money necklace and 5 karat diamonds in both ears. Instead of the U of I Fighting Illini, lets have the University of Illinois Fighting Bitches and have the mascot be a woman with her hair dyed red, wearing a choker with 7 tattoos, chewing gum.

Get the point? If the other things would be wrong, then why do we accept the Native American misrepresentations as if they’re right?

So what is my take on schools/teams that use “White” people as mascots like Notre Dame and the Boston Celtics? Although I think the major difference is that neither Irish nor Celtic people were raped, pilfered, pillaged and driven off of their land (but both could easily assimilate into privileged White society) here in the USA, I say get rid of these misrepresentations too. Not all Irish people are “lucky” (when Notre Dame wins a football game that it is supposed to lose, the common refrain is “it’s the luck of the Irish”), neither are they all angry (which is an Irish stereotype and is further perpetuated by the mascot as well as the title “Fighting” Irish). I’m not as privy about Celtic stereotypes, but I can imagine that there are some Celtic people that aren’t particularly pleased with Boston’s mascot and that there is an inherently discriminatory notion about it that the vast majority of Americans aren’t aware of.

As with many of the schools/teams bearing Native American monikers, I’m sure that tradition would never allow for the dismissal of “Fighting Irish” or “Celtics” as mascots at these institutions. Especially given their storied histories.

I know this debate is far from over, but in the year 2005, it shouldn’t be that difficult to see what’s wrong with this misuse of imagery. On that same vein of thinking, consider the era when many of these mascots were implemented; pre-1965 Civil Rights Act. So it’s no wonder that the majority of these mascots are based on stereotypes and are brazenly racist. If we know the racist era that these things were conjured up in, then how in the world can we defend them when we know the racist thinking that existed in bringing them about in the first place?

In the future I hope that the NCAA toughens its policy, and that other branches of the Armed Forces follow after the lead of the Pentagon.

-Maelstrom