NATIVE AMERICANS AS MASCOTS
The crisp autumn air not only announces the changing of the seasons in Washington, but also the arrival of football season.
Starting Sunday night, fans from across the state make their way to FedEx Field or huddle around their televisions to watch their favorite team compete in another grueling football season.
While America’s favorite sport has several honored traditions, it is rooted in something more sinister. The act of malice can be found in the dance on the sidelines and proudly presented in the name of Washington’s beloved football team.
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In 1933, the Washington Redskin’s officially took on the name after moving from Boston. Since then, the team has been under fire for racism behind the name.
The term “redskins” was originally used as a slur against American Indians throughout American history and is offensive to most American Indians still today. Over the years, fans protested against the team’s name and asked for it to be changed, but to no avail. However, Washington is not the only team to be held accountable for their racist mascot.
In Oklahoma, several high schools profit from using Native Americans as their school sigil. One prominent team in Oklahoma high school sports, Tulsa Union, is also home to the Redskins. The Oklahoma high school coined the name in 1884 when the school was built and despite several protests from fans and concerned Native Americans alike, the name has never been subject to change.
Most schools, such as Union, refuse to change their mascots for a number of reasons but have ignorance as the common theme behind the stubbornness to change according to Hugh Foley. Foley is a professor who teaches “Native Americans of Oklahoma” at Roger's State University and a renowned documentarian on Native American mascots.
Foley says that a common occurrence is when non-Natives or Natives who do not know their culture receive a self-esteem boost from using Native American mascots. Whereas, Native Americans who are aware of the history behind their culture get a blow to their self-esteem because they understand it is degrading. Foley says that when nothing is done to change these mascots, the state is forced to pay for the racist backlash.
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“What we have in the State of Oklahoma and any other city where a publicly funded school is using a Native American mascot, is either what we call institutionalized racism because it’s built into the system as a result of being a part of the school system that just goes on and on and on or it's state-sanctioned racism and publicly supported racism because all of those property tax dollars are going to support what is stereotypically racially insensitive image at that particular public school,” Foley said.
However, not all schools who use a Native American affiliation as their mascot deserve to be on the chopping block. The newly enlisted NCAA rule states that teams can keep their mascots if the tribes approve them. Florida State University is one program that is fully endorsed through the Seminole tribe.
In fact, Osceola and his horse Renegade can be found in American history. Everything from the regalia to the war paint displayed on his face represents something about the Seminoles.
In Hominy, Oklahoma, the school’s mascot is a Buck which is another name for an Osage warrior. The school and the Native American students wear their mascot with pride through several generations that date to the days of the Hominy Indians, a professional football team, according to Terease Dewitt. Dewitt is a retired teacher from hominy high school.
"The Osage's and the Native American students okay with it because their kids play for the team, their great-grandparents played for the team and each generation takes great pride in wearing the uniform and playing for the Hominy bucks,” Dewitt said.
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When Florida State and Hominy High School represent the respective tribes correctly, it is to educate the public on the culture as opposed to mocking the tribe.
Dr. Ben Kracht, professor of anthropology and department head of Cherokee and indigenous studies at Northeastern State University, prides his career on creating immersive learning environments for his students.
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“What we want to do in our program and in my classes, for students, to obtain awareness and understanding of the cultural difference among American Indians and to develop the necessary tools for understanding global cultures”, Kracht said.
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NSU established one of the first American Indian studies programs in 1973. The mission of educating students on cultural practices and accurate historical depictions of native cultures continues today.
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"Understanding and respecting cross-cultural differences make us more compassionate, that is, if you cannot understand other people, you might not necessarily be as compassionate as you could be and without compassion, we lose our humanity, Kracht said.”
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Learning the multifaceted effects of native culture is vital to carrying it forward. Part of it is the immersive learning techniques used through the curriculum at NSU that takes students to native communities and help break harsh concepts created through stereotypes.
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“I think most Americans do not really understand American history, especially related to the American Indian cultures and dispelling stereotypes, I think, is the important thing,” Kracht said, “People are always becoming and for me teaching those sorts of things and just enlightening students about American Indian cultures and creating better citizens in the process is important to me.”
So, what it all comes down to is educating our youth about Native American culture to a point where they can make the decision of using Native American as a mascot. It is obvious racist that these sports teams and schools to use the words “Redskins, Savages, or Indians” as their mascots names and also it is almost impossible to have them change it. But if schools across the country start to educate our youth about more our Nation’s history with Native Americans, maybe they will have the chance to change these mascot names or do a better job at respecting Native American where they don’t need to use the words redskin, Indian, savages.