Native American mascot controversy
Since the 1960s, the issue of Native American and First Nations names and images being used by sports teams as mascots has been the subject of increasing public controversy in the United States and Canada. This has been a period of rising Indigenous civil rights movements, and Native Americans and their supporters object to the use of images and names in a manner and context they consider derogatory. They have conducted numerous protests and tried to educate the public on this issue.
In response since the 1970s, an increasing number of secondary schools have retired their Native American names and mascots. Changes accelerated in 2020, following public awareness of institutional racism prompted by nationally covered cases of police misconduct. National attention was focused on the prominent use of names and images by professional franchises including the Washington Commanders and the Cleveland Guardians. In Canada, the Edmonton Eskimos became the Edmonton Elks in 2021. Each such change at the professional level has been followed by changes of school teams; for instance, 29 changed their names between August and December 2020. A National Congress of American Indians database tracks some 1,900 K-12 schools in 970 school districts with Native "themed" school mascots.
The issue has been reported in terms of Native Americans being affected by the offensiveness of certain terms, images, and performances. A more comprehensive understanding of the history and context of using Native American names and images is a reason for sports teams to eliminate such usage. Social science research has shown that sports mascots and images are important symbols with deeper psychological and social effects in society. A 2020 analysis of this research indicates only negative effects; those psychologically detrimental to Native American students and to non-Native persons by promoting negative stereotypes and prejudicial ideas of Native Americans and undermining inter-group relations. Based on such research showing negative effects, more than 115 professional organizations representing civil rights, educational, athletic, and scientific experts, have adopted resolutions stating that such use of Native American names and symbols by non-native sports teams is a form of ethnic stereotyping; it promotes misunderstanding and prejudice that contributes to other problems faced by Native Americans.
Defenders of mascots often state their intention to honor Native Americans by referring to positive traits, such as fighting spirit and being strong, brave, stoic, dedicated, and proud; while opponents see these traits as being based upon stereotypes of Native Americans as savages. In general, the social sciences recognize that all ethnic stereotypes, whether positive or negative, are harmful because they promote false or misleading associations between a group and an attribute, fostering a disrespectful relationship. The injustice of such stereotypes is recognized with regard to other racial or ethnic groups, thus mascots are considered morally questionable regardless of offense being taken by individuals. Defenders of the status quo also state that the issue is not important, being only about sports, and that the opposition is nothing more than "political correctness", which change advocates argue ignores the extensive evidence of harmful effects of stereotypes and bias.
The NCAI and over 1,500 national Native organizations and advocates have called for a ban on all Native imagery, names, and other appropriation of Native culture in sports. The joint letter included over 100 Native-led organizations, as well as tribal leaders and members of over 150 federally recognized tribes, reflecting their consensus that Native mascots are harmful. Use of such imagery and terms has declined, but at all levels of American and Canadian sports it remains fairly common. Former Representative Deb Haaland, approved in March 2021 as the first Indigenous Secretary of the Interior, has long advocated for teams to change such mascots.
History
s have had a history of "playing Indian" that dates back to the colonial period. In the 19th century, fraternal organizations such as the Tammany Societies and the Improved Order of Red Men adopted the words and material culture of Native Americans in part to establish an aboriginal identity, while ignoring the dispossession and conquest of Indigenous peoples. This practice spread to youth groups, such as the Boy Scouts of America and many summer camps. University students in the late 19th and early 20th centuries adopted Indian names and symbols for their sports teams, as traditional Native American life was imagined by European Americans.Professional team names had similar origins. In professional baseball the team that is now the Atlanta Braves was founded as the Boston Red Stockings in 1871; becoming the Boston Braves in 1912. Their owner, James Gaffney, was a member of New York City's political machine, Tammany Hall. It was nominally formed to honor Tamanend, a chief of the Lenape, then known as the Delaware. The team that moved to become the Washington Redskins in 1937 was originally also known as the Boston Braves; both the football and baseball teams played at Braves Field. After moving to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, the team name was changed to the Boston Redskins in 1933, using a "red" identifier while retaining the Braves "Indian Head" logo. While defenders of the Redskins sometimes say the name honored coach William Henry Dietz, who claimed Native American heritage, the use of Native American names and imagery by this NFL team began in 1932 - before Dietz was hired in 1933.
The Cleveland Indians' name originated from a request by club owner Charles Somers to baseball writers to choose a new name to replace the "Naps", following the departure of their star player Nap Lajoie after the 1914 season. The name "Indians" was chosen. It was a nickname previously applied to the old Cleveland Spiders baseball club during the time when Louis Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot tribe of Maine, played for Cleveland. The success of the Boston Braves in the 1914 World Series may have been another reason for adopting an Indian mascot. The version that the team is named to honor Sockalexis, as the first Native American to play Major League Baseball, cannot be verified from historical documents. According to a 21st-century account, the contemporary news stories reporting the new name in 1915 make no mention of Sockalexis, but do make numerous insulting references to Native Americans.
The stereotyping of Native Americans must be understood in the context of history which includes conquest, forced relocation, and organized efforts to eradicate native cultures. The government-sponsored boarding schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries separated young Native Americans from their families in an effort to assimilate them to the mainstream and educate them as European Americans. As stated in an editorial by Carter Meland and David E. Wilkins, both professors of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota:
Since the first Europeans made landfall in North America, native peoples have suffered under a weltering array of stereotypes, misconceptions and caricatures. Whether portrayed as noble savages, ignoble savages, teary-eyed environmentalists or, most recently, simply as casino-rich, native peoples find their efforts to be treated with a measure of respect and integrity undermined by images that flatten complex tribal, historical and personal experience into one-dimensional representations that tells us more about the depicters than about the depicted.
Viewpoints
Native American
In the 1940s, the NCAI created a campaign to eliminate negative stereotyping of Native American people in the media. Over time, the campaign began to focus on Indian names and mascots in sports. The NCAI maintains that teams with mascots such as the Braves and the Redskins perpetuate negative stereotypes of Native American people and demean their traditions and rituals. "Often citing a long-held myth by non-Native people that "Indian" mascots "honor Native people," American sports businesses such as the NFL's Washington 'Redskins' and Kansas City 'Chiefs', MLB's Cleveland 'Indians' and Atlanta 'Braves', and the NHL's Chicago Black Hawks, continue to profit from harmful stereotypes originated during a time when white superiority and segregation were commonplace."Several of the founders of the American Indian Movement, including Clyde Bellecourt, Vernon Bellecourt, Dennis Banks and Russell Means, were among the first to protest team names and mascots such as the Washington Redskins and Chief Wahoo. Vernon Bellecourt also founded the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media in 1989. Cornel Pewewardy, Professor and Director of Indigenous Nations Studies at Portland State University, cites Indigenous mascots as an example of dysconscious racism. By placing images of Native American or First Nations people into an invented media context, this continues to maintain the superiority of the dominant culture. Such practices can be seen as a form of cultural imperialism or neocolonialism.
Native mascots are part of the larger issues of cultural appropriation and the violation of indigenous intellectual property rights. This encompasses all instances when non-natives use indigenous music, art, costumes, etc. in entertainment and commerce. Scholars contend that harm to Native Americans occurs because the appropriation of Native culture by the majority society continues the systems of dominance and subordination that have been used to colonize, assimilate, and oppress Indigenous groups. The use of caricatures of Native Americans as sports mascots has been characterized as contributing to the marginalization of the people in the larger culture. While consultation with other minorities on major projects has improved, decisions affecting Native Americans, such as building the Dakota Access Pipeline, have been made while excluding Native concerns.
Issues related to misunderstanding of Native American legal status have also arisen in cases of foster care or adoption of Native American children. Among these is what is known as the Baby Veronica case, in which a child was adopted by a white family without the consent of her father, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Federal legislation has been passed to strengthen the priority of tribes in determining the care of their children, as often extended family take over care when needed.
Not all Native Americans totally oppose mascots. Steven Denson, a professor at Southern Methodist University, has said that there are acceptable ways to use Native American mascots if it is done in a respectful and tasteful manner. He says:
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.
The NCAI has recognized the right of individual tribes to establish relationships with teams that allow the latter to retain tribal names. For instance, the Spokane Indians, a minor league baseball team, has established a relationship with the Spokane tribe. It has abandoned Native American imagery that it had used when the team was founded in 1903. The logo is an "S" and includes a feather; "Spokane" is written on the team jerseys in Salish, the Spokane language; this is also used for bilingual signs in the ballpark. The mascot is a person dressed as a trout, in reference to the tribe's tradition of fishing. Opponents of Native mascots are divided on this approach. Suzan Shown Harjo says that there is no such thing as a positive stereotype; while Stephanie Fryberg responds that even if the team's use of the name may be respectful, opposing fans may use racist gestures and references.