School mascots blamed for escalation of stereotypes
By Allison Yang, Daily Staff Reporter
December 11, 2002
http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/12/11/3df6f24b63565
Most students will spend their winter break in front of the television
cheering on their favorite sports team - possibly while wearing apparel
adorned with their team's mascot.
But while a wolverine might not be seen as offensive, other university mascots
are coming under fire because of their misrepresentation of Native Americans.
According to the American Indian Movement, from childhood to adulthood, people
encounter more than 3,000 culturally insensitive names of sports teams and
mascots.
Nickole Fox, secretary for the University's Native American Student
Association, finds Native American mascots inappropriate and offensive.
"There shouldn't be Native American mascots at all. They are disrespectful and
a mockery," said Fox, an LSA junior.
Vernon Bellecourt, president of the American Indian Movement's National
Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media, said mascots demean and
trivialize the Native American people, their spiritual and cultural symbols
and their self-esteem.
"More indigenous is the fact that children are literally brought into this
world thinking cowboys and Indians," Bellecourt said.
Bellecourt said children play for sports teams with names like Redskins,
Braves, Savages and Chiefs. Then they move on to the 4-H clubs, which
Bellecourt said are the worst offenders, followed by the Indian Princesses and
Boy Scouts of America.
Bellecourt said many people go to colleges, like Florida State University,
University of Illinois, University of North Dakota and University of Utah with
mascots, like the Fighting Sioux and the Seminoles, which are culturally and
spiritually offensive. The fans wear war paint, not true Native American
paint, but Hollywood created. These are also insensitive to the culture
because typically markings are very spiritual and sacred to Native Americans.
Bellecourt said the Illinois mascot, Chief Illiniwek, distorts their
beautiful, traditional and spiritual dance.
Some college students root for teams like the Cleveland Indians, home of the
grinning, bucktooth mascot, which they refer to as "Wahoo" - a racial slur for
some.
Fox said people need to be more culturally sensitive. To become more aware,
she said people should "take classes about Native American issues and educate
yourself. People need to erase all the cowboy and Indian images that they grew
up with."
At the University of Northern Colorado students responded to a local high
school team called the "Fightin' Reds" by creating the Fightin' Whites
campaign, which raised Native American cultural awareness throughout the
community and nation. Through this campaign they also raised over $100,000 for
scholarships for Native American students.
"Having Fightin' Whites' is great. People don't realize how stupid it is to
have Native American mascots, but if they put another race up as mascots, it
puts things in perspective," Fox said.
The problem with cultural ignorance goes beyond just sports teams' mascots,
she added.
As a Native American, Fox said she has encounters people all the time who are
culturally unaware.
She recalls one specific incident where she felt offended. "There was this guy
that I worked with this summer. Somehow we got into a conversation on Native
Americans. When I said that I was a Native American, he asked 'are you?' and
said 'You don't have a wide bridge on your nose. If you were Native American
you'd have it.' "
School mascots blamed for escalation of stereotypes
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Wednesday, December 11, 2002
"RACIST IMAGERY IN POPULAR CULTURE" 5TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE, APRIL 2003, CLEVELAND
PLEASE POST THIS CALL TO CONFERENCE ON YOUR WEBSITES AND E-MAIL LISTS. LET EVERYONE KNOW. THIS IS GOING TO BE AN EXCITING EVENT. PLAN FOR APRIL TODAY.
CALL TO CONFERENCE
MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!! Our 5th Annual Conference on Racism and Negative Stereotyping ,
traditionally held during the weekend of opening day of the Cleveland ball team, will be April 5 - 7, 2003,
at the Cleveland Airport Marriott, 4277 West 150th Street, Cleveland, OH.
Our featured speaker will be Dr. Richard Grounds from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Richard was a
Professor at the Univerisity of Oklahoma until recently, when he began a full
time career of retrieving and reviving the so called "lost language" of his
so called "extinct" tribe of Yuchees (this was one of many tribes claimed
to be extinct by the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs).
He is a fluent speaker and skilled at language preservation. Identity is of
utmost importance to him and so he became totally involved in this
work. and, from his work and research he knows racism and colonialism well.
Speaking to issues of racist imagery in the popular culture as a
continuation of the colonialism theme of genocide, he skillfully brings
his audience through the historical ramifications that are threaded into
the use of logos and imagery of Native Peoples Today.
We have also invited an individual who is an activist on the sacred
site issues, specifically that of the Mt. Graham site in Arizona that is
currently being exploited and abused for the sake of placing huge
telescope observatories and not allowing his people to use their sacred mountain
for their prayers and ceremonies.
Once again, Interaction with our leadership group from the National
Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media will be a featured event.
Vernon Bellcourt, Char Teters, Clyde Bellcourt, Juanita Helphrey and others will
be a part of this conversation. Clyde will also be our Spiritual Leader
and Advisor throughout the conference, as he did last year.
This year we have shortened our program to just one full day, but this
does not mean it won't be jam packed with activity and fun! Nellie Hall
will join Clyde this year with her wonderful songs and will be with us also
to sing and drum at our Saturday night. social. She is from the Fort
Peck Reservation in Montana and is the sister of Juanita Helphrey. She is
currently on a circuit of singers, storytellers, dancers and drummers
that provide the traditional and beautiful side of the story of the journey
of Lewis and Clark.
Char Teters has a special art exhibit at Notre Dame College that you
all need to see, so we hope you use that extra time Saturday to visit her
exhIbit and talk with her. We will include that notice in our
registration mailing.
We will begin with registration and our social night at the Pilgrim
United Church of Christ, as we've done the past couple of years on Saturday
night, at 6 p.m. (the 5th of April). This includes our annual feast and
giveaway. Sunday the conference will open at the Marriott at 8 a.m. with
continuing registration and at 9 a.m. with the Spiritual ceremonies by Clyde and
Nellie. The guest speaker on sacred sites will finish the morning, our
featured speaker will take up the afternoon and the interactive panel
will be in the evening, with our closing time around 10 p.m.
Monday, of course, we will gather at the usual place for our march
across the bridge to the ballpark to begin our protest.
REGISTRATION WILL BE AVAILABLE ON LINE VERY SOON - WATCH FOR OUR NEXT NOTICE.
AIM Indiana Support Group
C/O Albert Runningwolf
1148 Main St.
Brookville, IN. 47012
Ph: 765-647-4947
FAX: 765-647-5362
