Oregon Department of Education is considering a request by Oregon Indian Education Association to remove all Indian mascots from all Oregon schools. According to OIEA: "Indian mascots represent institutionalized racism and disrespect for human rights...".
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I wonder if anyone asked an Indian. When Notre Dame was told that they should change their name from the "Fight Irish" because it was discriminatory, they told them that they were proud of it.
Similarly, people were up in arms about Speedy Gonzales cartoons, saying that he was a stereotype, but they found that Speedy Gonzales had a fan base in Mexico where they were happy to be represented in the most popular cartoons in the world.
I am Native American and I AM offended by the way many Indian Mascots are depicted. Notre Dame does not trample the beliefs of the Irish, unlike the University of Illinois's depiction of "Chief Illini" which insults the Native American Dance and dress. Many of the mascots also reinforce negative beliefs about Native Americans such as scalping--scalps were not taken in Native American cultures until European settlers offered bounties for scalps. The group that asked the Oregon Department of Education to remove the Indian mascots IS a Native American Association. By the way, Notre Dame is built on land that was obtained fraudulently from a Native American Nation. The Potawatomi gave the land to Notre Dame with the proviso that Potawatomi children be educated there. It hasn't happened.
Very interesting, Juli. Is anything being done about Notre Dame, or is a case of what happened on Manhattan Island?
Would you be happier if all native American mascots and place names were removed so that native Americans vanish from history? Generally, a mascot is chosen as an example of something that is to be admired and held up for possible emulation. On the other hand, if my ancestors were a defeated, stone age civilization, maybe I, too, would want them to be forgotten.
The Potawatomi Nations are working on a collective suit against the University of Notre Dame for failure to abide by a contract. Notre Dame is fighting it based on the Indian Removal Acts of 1830
If I can make one observation that I am embarassed that I did not make before. I went to a high school in Pennsylvania in an area called the Indian Valley, the two junior high schools were Indian Crest and Indian Valley, and the mascot was the Indian.
This was not done to belittle the Indians, but was named after the Lenni Lenapi tribe who originally lived there.
In response to the whole idea of mascots, the definition of a mascot is: an animal, person, or thing adopted by a group as its representative symbol and supposed to bring good luck. The idea of a mascot is to make someone or something into a good luck token. When something is made into a token, it is almost always MINIMIZED. As a matter of personal belief, I am against belittling anyone. I believe that a mascot engenders stereotypes that allow those who come into contact with those stereotypes to minimize the pool from which the representative mascot is taken. Racism and prejudice are not something I like dealing with nor is it something that children should have to face. When people know that I am Native American, I get asked questions like "where is your face paint?" or "why aren't you wearing feathers?" I want to ask them "why did your ancestors quit painting themselves blue and going into battle naked?" For further reference, the American Psychological Association has a position paper on the Internet at http://www.apa.org/releases/ResAmIndianMascots.pdf
"...if my ancestors were a defeated, stone age civilization, maybe I, too, would want them to be forgotten."
Stone Age? Metallurgy was known in the Americas long before the European invasion. In fact, it was known to Native people before it was known in Europe. There were no "stone agers" running around in the Americas.
It just about shames me to have to explain this point at all, because it is in response to ignorance spawned from poorly revised textbooks and, simply put, racism.