Over the last 50 years or longer, sports teams have decided to use Native American names as their mascot or team name. Native American names and gestures have all been used at the professional, collegiate, and high school level. Some examples of this include the Kansas City Cheifs, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins, Red Raiders, Indians, and many more. Some gestures such as the tomahawk chop and Indian cries have also been used.
There are many different reasons people choose these options as their names. Teams choose these names because they admire them and many think of them as roll models. Many also view them as strong and courageous. A lot of people love their way of life and how spiritual they are as well. An announcer for the Cleveland Indians who is part Cherokee believed that the name "Indians" could provide a chance to educate people on their culture and history. Randy Rollyson states “My great-grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. I have no problem, whatsoever, with the use of Native American logos. None at all." On the other hand, Scotty Sochay states “Bottom line: Our historical relationships with outside groups are fraught with broken treaties, agreements, and promises. As a result, we are generally distrustful of outside groups. Thus, we have a problem when an outside group tells us we ‘should feel honored’ by their usage of Native imagery. Rather than telling us to feel honored, let us decide how to be honored. And if that means dropping the imagery, please respect our culture.”
I personally think that all teams should be able to use Native American names as their mascots. I would feel pretty honored to have teams named after me or my people. However, I have not been in the place of Native Americans and can understand how they feel based on history.
Do you think sports teams should be able to use Native American names and gestures?
Do you know anyone that doesn't like teams changing names such as the Washington Redskins or Cleveland Indians?
Sources
https://www.thewrap.com/sports-teams-dumped-racist-names-mascots-indians-redskins/
Replies
I think that sport teams should be able to use Native American names and gestures. I do not see what is wrong with it. The Washington Redsking and the Cleveland Indains should not have had to change their names. I think that people could learn off of their names by doing research.
Yeah I completely agree with you Landen. It is really neat in my opininion and I would feel very special if a team was named after me or my ancestors. Espicially if it's some of the most popular sports wathced and played.
No I think that it is not rasict to us native names or gestures. I think it is really cool that they do that, they have cool names and cool logos. I think people are getting to sensitive and they need to get over them selves. I think that native names and logos are awesome they look cool and they sound cool.
Yeah, I agree with you Bryce. They look and sound really cool and it honors them. People need to get over the past and move on. I would love for someone to have a team named after me or my ancestors.
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