American Indian Mascot Essay Sample

In contemporary society, people are accustomed to following their favorite teams in different sporting activities like soccer, rugby, athletics, and basketball. The question that lingers in the mind of most people do they know the mascot of their favorite sports teams like New York Redbulls, Dallas Mavericks, and LA Clippers among others (King, 2011). These teams have been in a way or another being accused of becoming chauvinistic towards the Native Americans and their ethnicity. The essay will be based on the use of mascots to discriminate against Natives and explain the scholarly concepts on whether the American Indian Mascots should go to a public school environment.

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However, most teams do not deliberately use their mascots to victimize against Natives. "Instead" they epitomize Native American Tribes and use names to "respect the antiquity of the tribal nation. There are others who think that sports teams are mostly using "native titles" to gain more enthusiasts (Hirschfelder, 2017). The "natives" have claimed that "professional teams are joking about their tribes because of the choices they have made about how the culture of American Indian is depicted. However many scholars have viewed this as respectful towards the culture of American Indians

Through forming cooperation's with the tribe and also honored some of the leaders from their team through use their names as the mascot of their organizations.

This has created a contradiction as some view those teams having mascot from their community from a racist perspective, and others view this as an honor as their culture is promoted. There was a time my close friend waited for a big game with abated heart, the game was between the "Red Sox" a team from Native Community where I come from against "Yankees" who defeated us during the first leg and the second leg was to be played the following day in our home stadium.

When the morning came, I groomed myself well ready for the game which was to be played in the afternoon. This was a game that I would not miss for anything since it promised to be an exhilarating one. I was accompanied by a couple of friends from my community who we went there having worn Indian apparel (King, 2011). The game ended and we won, but what transpired after the game is something I can hardly forget since the opposing team hurled prejudice insults at us, fought back at us and what promised to be a peaceful and entertaining game ended up in a very bad manner and from then I realize that there is some form of tribalism from the American community.

The above situation made me realize that the mascot of the team can bring cultural autocracy which is the propensity of individuals to view their culture or ethnicity as superior to the other one (Hirschfelder, 2017). From the above context, the opposing team which comprised of Americans considered themselves as superior in everything and also saw as inferior tribes, and that is why they attacked the supporters of the American Indian club, after being defeated.

The native communities are often viewed as not part of the American community since they face a lot of prejudice and most parents prefer to take their children to private schools since they feel that their children may be deprived of the benefit of free education that ordinary American citizens enjoy. For my case, the children from native communities should go to public school, and the Federal state should ensure they have a law that will incorporate these communities since most of them are citizens of the country by through birth, marriage, while others through winning the green card lottery. They should also be allowed to enjoy the benefits of learning in public schools just any other American; this will a step to ensuring we end racism in the country.

Teachers in public schools should be at the forefront of uniting students and ensure they acquire more knowledge and they should not view the mascot on a different team in a negative way rather they should be positive as see it as an opportunity for their culture to be promoted (Bowes, 2018). When students in public school engage in sports activities should refrain from using the mascot of their teams to hurl insults at the native students. Some of the teams with native mascots include "Cleveland Indians," "Washington Redskins." For example, the term "redskins" was a racial slur which was viewed as offensive by many American Indians. It is also clear that the native community were not the only ones who were used as names by sports teams.

The controversy of the natives had spread a lot in the US, and most people viewed it as a national act. The native mascot has been widely used starting from "elementary 'schools to college and also in professional teams (Bowes, 2018). The main focus of the controversy is focused on the professional sports team the "Washington Redskins." Many people view this team as prejudice and have been degraded by many since they do not generally come from America. Native Communities offer antiquity, power, ethnic, teaching and strong image of "Indians" to the "Native communities."

References

King, C. R., & Springwood, C. F. (Eds.). (2011). Team Spirits: The Native American Mascots Controversy. U of Nebraska Press.

Hirschfelder, A., Molin, P. F., Wakim, Y., & Dorris, M. A. (2017). American Indian stereotypes in the world of children: A reader and bibliography. Scarecrow Press.

Bowes, J. P. (2018). Living with American Indians and American Indian History. The Chautauqua Journal, 2(1), 11.