Native American Mascots

Some people support hanging Native American mascots due to negative or offensive beliefs regarding the mascots. Two of these beliefs are stereotyping and disrespect. Stereotypical Native American mascots generally remain described as obnoxious. This, often times, is due to the people acting as the mascots. To get the crowd more enthusiastic they will often act in disrespectful and obnoxious ways, such as make fun of their or the other teams’ mascot or symbol. This almost always leads to a dispute about the race or representation of a people the mascot should be portraying, and whether or not it should be changed due to arguments had during the season.

However, there are also positive aspects of these Native American Mascots that deserve to be acknowledged. In some places, these Native American Mascots are based on culture. The mascot is a representation of strength, pride and honor. It is considered an honorable act to play a part in showing pride and lifting tribe or team spirit during the sport or activity. When and if a tribal elder thinks an adolescent has earned it, he or she gets special recognition and sometimes a token of their achievement and honor because the positive way they portrayed the mascot. An example of this is found in Browning; their sports teams have done this ritual for generations. When an Elder feels as though an athlete has earned it, he or she receives a war bonnet in honor of their performance in that sport.

 Another positive aspect to these Native American Mascots is tradition. Certain places have been using Native Americans as Mascots for generations. It has been that way for many years so changing one Native American mascot may lead to the change of all others, due to racial quarrels in other places. Change is not easily welcomed by some and is completely rejected by others. The change may only cause further chaos and disruption by the public; not to mention the cost of changing a mascot. It costs thousands to change only a single team mascot. To change all of the Native American Mascots would be highly illogical and without a doubt unaffordable for both community members and the government, or facility, being asked to make the changes. So instead of completely changing all mascots, why not have the community members take a vote on whether or not to change the mascot, keep it, or slightly modify it.

 A mascot is a symbol. Symbols are arduous to change because they are set in people’s minds. To change a symbol such as a mascot would lead to misunderstanding, and changing Native American mascots could produce oppositions. This would happen on a much smaller scale if we were to change all Native American Mascots. There would be excessive confrontation over the matter. And more than likely the majority vote would win, therefore leading to the change back to the original mascots.

So, to save money and minimize the number of altercations, I suggest leaving the Native American Mascots as they stand. We should ensue preserved and appreciated by all. Instead of finding negative aspects about Native American Mascots, people should see more of their positive impacts on community and culture. Embrace tradition and with it a race and their way of life. Rather than bashing on Native American tribes and the use of them as mascots, some may instead need to research this specific tribe and how having a mascot mirroring them affects them personally. Teams should find out whether or not Native Americans get offended by the use of mascots representing them of it others get offended by the use of the Native Americans as mascots, based on racial discriminations or insecurities. If more information place to explain the positive sides of Native American Mascots, more acceptance of these mascots would occur. Perhaps the mascots should not undergo change, but those who misinterpret the mascot’s deeper meaning requires modification.