Honor or Mockery? Native American Mascots
Where does one draw the line between honoring a group of individuals and discriminating against them? It doesn't seem like it should be that hard, does it? Should be easy enough to tell if you are discriminating against someone or honoring them. Yet, something that would seem like an easy problem to solve has evolved into a heavily disputed argument. This controversy involves the representation of Native Americans on athletic fields as mascots. Many athletic teams and universities, such as the University of Illinois, have a Native American as a mascot. These teams feel the Native American is respected and is honored while Native Americans and other protestors think it is nothing short of racism. Basically what it comes down to is opinions; but everything is opinionated if you think about it. So is one side right and one side wrong? I don't think there is any way to find a perfect solution to this conflict, because it all depends on how you look at it. So the only thing to do is understand both sides of the controversy and then make an educated decision about what you believe in. The main point of debate is how and what the mascot is representing. Chief supporters at the University of Illinois believe that Chief Illin
I understand that if someone is being offended then something needs to be resolved because nobody should feel that way. I mean, this is America, where protests are common and people are constantly fighting for their place in the world. Since sports are so popular today and draw so much attention, I believe that Native Americans and other protesters use these sports venues as battlegrounds for their long, hard fight against racial discrimination. In some cases, Native Americans have won the battle and forced schools to either change their mascot or retire it completely. A March 4, 2002 article in Sports Illustrated entitled "Indian Wars", states "since 1969, more than 600 schools and minor league pro teams have dropped nicknames deemed offensively by Native American groups (Price 68). Some popular examples include Stanford University changing their name from the Indians to the Cardinals and Syracuse University retiring their mascot, the Saltine Warrior forever (Garippo 7.1). So some schools have actually recognized the racism and taken the appropriate measures? Why are the teams that still have these mascots not realizing the same thing? Racial discrimination is no different for these teams. Schools such as the University of Illinois believe they are an exception. I understand how terms such as Redskins, as in the NFL's Washington Redskins, or images such as Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo could be found offensive, but I don't see that in Chief Illiniwek. First of all, you don't see The Chief on the sidelines prancing around cheering like other mascots. He is revealed only at halftime of home games to do a ceremonial dance to thousands of cheerful faces clapping and joining in. That doesn't seem like they are discriminating. They are supporting because they respect the icon and link their love and connection with the school to the Chief. This brings up an interesting point about mascot names though. If the Chief offends Indians by simply representing them then that isn't any different than hundreds of other mascots around the nation that represent certain people, or groups of people. For example, how can someone say that the Chief is offensive to that "group" of people while they support other schools that simply represent a group of people? Schools such as The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, or the Spartans of Michigan State are groups of people who are represented on the playing field the same, if not worse, than Chief Illiniwek. Other examples include the Trojans, Boilermakers, Cowboys and so forth, the list goes on and on. S
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1730
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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