Native American name and mascots are, nicknames which were used since long time ago concerning sports and the teams. This was a controversial topic in the first world concerning the civil rights of the citizens. Mascots were used as a branding element for teams in the beginning. As time went by it has shown that not only the branding has to be represented, but the baseline argument and emotional aspects concerning the mascots. Since a long time in the 60’s, there has been a protest against the names and images and others insight the more use of such prominent names like the Cleveland. This influential style of mascots and names has been a trend for school sports and college teams. Compared to late decades the number of teams with mascots and names has increased extremely, this issue has not been looked at widely. The issue has been looked at the local level. In statewide laws and policies have been put in place for the trend to change. The states have pushed for a proper environment for quality education. This was have been resisted since many of the American society claims to be attacking the local community. (“Native American mascots.”2012).
In the early times, organizations were to be put in place to fight mascots and names together with civil rights commission on discrimination of stereotypes that cause harm to present days. The same mascots were a threat to cultural appropriation, and it violated indigenous intellectual property. It has been seen that the native American has increased since the native culture of the majority society continues the dominance. The other small society is colonized and oppressed by the larger group.
The defenders of this ban state that the native American should be used in a positive term, to showcase fighting spirits and braveness in the society. Advocates insist that this native American ignores extensive harm on stereotypes and biases. In different states, laws have been kept in place to act as watchdogs for this enormous behavior. In California, the governor signed a law to protect the public schools from native American and mascots. This law targeted the name “Redskins” which was prominent in public schools. The law stated that racially discriminatory nicknames in public schools are antithetical California schools to provide equal education.( “Effect of exposure to an American Indian mascot on the tendency to stereotype a different minority group.”45).
In Massachusetts a bill was introduced in the legislature, to amend the use of Native American name and mascots in the Commonwealth in public schools. The law was looking at any imagery that depicted to Asian American tribe, individual or custom that is used by the public school as a mascot.
Michigan educational board was against the use of Native American mascots, songs nicknames and descriptors by Michigan schools. In Michigan, the state created a heritage fund to equip the law for changes in the gaming compact. Attorney general was requested to fine schools which refused to eliminate native names and mascots. The advocates argue that this is degrading cultural insensitivity. The ban on this enormous behavior could be dealt with only by the national government conjunction with the states, to create a bill that could see the trend change.
In opposition to the ban on Native American mascots, they say that the nicknames are in sports which is a recreational performance and not a serious involvement. Mascots are importantly related to sports and community fans. The mascots play a big role in sports for identifying teams in a league. Mascots largely identify symbols to certain clubs and teams. Mascots relate more to team history and fan community. In America, mascots are worn when a team wins compared to the one that loses. Fans tend to change a team symbol, but this may lose the history of a team’s identity and fan community. For the mascots, they should be used in games only to preserve that unique culture, instead of making it public nationwide (A documentary survey of American Indian history”2015).
Mascots are not always regarded as negative exposure for teams in sports. An analysis was conducted to view what students in high thought about the mascots. The analysis involved reading about mascots and filling in a questionnaire. The analysis showed that most of the students lacked self-esteem as well as identity worth concerning American native. The students were also asked to write how they viewed their lives in the future to come. The students who had experience on mascots had a variable of achievement language in their writing compared to the controlled students. The data from the analysis showed that Native American communities appreciated positively by the locals. The study shows that the students, in this schools with mascots concluded that there are negative consequences to this mascots when asked. Even when this is a good gesture for motivating a team name, such good intentions are not satisfying to bring good outcomes. American Indian mascots have no negative consequences since their meaning is inherently negative (“Effect of exposure to an American Indian mascot on the tendency to stereotype a different minority group.”540).
Work cited
Calloway, Colin G. First peoples: A documentary survey of American Indian history. Macmillan Higher Education, 2015.
Castillo, Susan. “Native American mascots.” (2012).
Kim‐Prieto, Chu, et al. “Effect of exposure to an American Indian mascot on the tendency to stereotype a different minority group.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 40.3 (2010): 534-553.
King, C. Richard, ed. The Native American mascot controversy: A handbook. Scarecrow Press, 2010.
Leavitt, Peter A., et al. ” Frozen in Time”: The Impact of Native American Media Representations on Identity and Self‐Understanding.” Journal of Social Issues 71.1 (2015): 39-53.
