Native American Mascot Controversy - Argument Supporting The Use of Native American Mascots

Argument Supporting The Use of Native American Mascots

Some individuals who support the use of Native American mascots state that they are meant to be respectful, and to pay homage to Native American people. Many have made the argument that Native American mascots focus on bravery, courage and fighting skills rather than anything derogatory. Karl Swanson, vice-president of the Washington Redskins professional football team, declared in the magazine Sports Illustrated that his team's name "symbolizes courage, dignity, and leadership," and that the "Redskins symbolize the greatness and strength of a grand people." At a symposium at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C., native and University of North Florida professor E. Newton Jackson got a round of applause when he said he stopped using the nickname decades ago. The Redskins have often said that their name and logo honors Native Americans, but he wasn't buying that argument at all. "How does one person tell another that they honor them, when I'm telling you that what you're saying is not honoring me?" Jackson said. For those that have studied the issue scientifically, claiming ownership of the names and symbols belonging to another culture is evidence of racism, whether done consciously and maliciously or not.

Supporters of the use of native imagery reject the term racism because they associate that word with the experience of African-Americans rather than Native Americans, however racism is a broader term for any discriminatory practice based upon ethnicity. Slavery was a more personal assault and continued after emancipation in the form of discrimination that insured a continued source of cheap labor. What Euro-Americans wanted from Native Americans was not labor but land, and most were willing to have native people themselves assimilate. Continued discrimination came to those who refused to do so, but asserted their separate identity and rights of sovereignty. The appropriation of native cultures is therefore a discriminatory practice that is not understood as such by those that think of assimilation as a positive process.

Others claim Native American mascots help promote the culture to those who might be unaware of its significance. Chief Illiniwek, the former athletic symbol for the University of Illinois, has been another figure who has come under scrutiny. However, in 1990 the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois called the mascot a dignified symbol: "His ceremonial dance is done with grace and beauty. The Chief keeps the memory of the people of a great Native American tribe alive for thousands of Illinoisans who otherwise would know little or nothing of them. However, the tribal costume was not of the Illini confederacy, but that of the Lakota tribe. The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma is the closest living descendants of the Illiniwek Confederacy; and in 2005, John P. Froman, the new Chief when asked his position by the NCAA, indicated that "Chief (Illiniwek) was not representative of our tribe and culture, mainly because the costume is Sioux." In 2006, in response to a widely published column by journalist George Will in support of the symbol's use, he wrote a letter reiterating the Peoria Tribe's opposition to the symbol and decrying that the "University of Illinois has ignored the tribe’s request for nearly five years." On March 13, 2007, the University of Illinois board of trustees voted to retire Illiniwek's name, image and regalia.

Steven Denson, director of diversity for Southern Methodist University and member of the Chickasaw nation, while not issuing a blanket endorsement, has nevertheless stated that there are acceptable ways to use Native American mascots if it is done in a respectful and tasteful manner. He states: "I believe it is acceptable if used in a way that fosters understanding and increased positive awareness of the Native-American culture. And it must also be done with the support of the Native-American community. There is a way to achieve a partnership that works together to achieve mutually beneficial goals."