Native American Logos

I decided to start a conversation about the use of Native Americans as logos for sports teams. I have always had strong opinions on this topic because, even as I child, I could see that this practice was offensive. My first memory of this topic was in middle school when another team in our area used American Indians as their mascot, and my sister and I thought it was weird that they’d use people instead of animals. As I have come to read more and more about this topic, I find it hard to believe some people would actually be okay with using an entire culture for the purpose of making a joke of them. I started the conversation on Facebook by posting an ESPN article about the subject as well as the header: “I am doing a paper in my sociology

She focused more on the cultural offenses of using Native Americans as mascots. She commented, “I think it is offensive to their culture to use them as a mascot.” I was glad someone mentioned the cultural aspect, but there is a deep religious significance to the “props” that people wear to the games. In his book Fair and Foul, Stanley Eitzen discusses how using this is harmful: “The word Indian isn’t offensive . . . but it’s the behavior that accompanies all of this that’s offensive. The rubber tomahawks. The chicken feather headdresses. People wearing war paint and making these ridiculous whoops with a tomahawk in one hand and a beer in the other. All these things have significant meaning for us” (39). Both Eitzen and my friend Angela realize that these uses of culturally and religiously important objects and practices are highly offensive and demeaning to the American

There would have been many eye rolls from Angela, a raised voice from Janet, and a very eloquent but condescending argument from Bob. The first two commentators are still young and tend to show a lot of anger and frustration, which makes an argument seem more opinion and emotion based. Bob is someone who spends a very long time planning out his arguments and makes sure that they are as eloquent-sounding as possible. Even though Angela and Janet understand the obvious racism that fuels the use of Native American mascots, their strong tones of voice would have made their arguments invalid to Bob, and he would probably not listen to anything they would have to