Native American Mascots

NATIVE AMERICAN MASCOTS

  An increasing amount of controversy associated with schools and Native American mascots has caused a huge turnout in debate in the past few years.  Both sides have legitimate points to their argument, so school boards around the United States are struggling to find a reasonable solution. On the pro side, students who attend schools with Native American-themed mascots argue that their school is representing pride and honor, not disrespect.  This idea is opposed by the Native Americans fighting to keep schools from using Native American-themed mascots, because they strongly believe that the mascots are racist and disrespectful towards them, their tradition, and their culture. 

Often times, students who attend schools with Native American-themed mascots fight to keep their mascots, because they don’t want to stray from tradition, and believe that Native Americans should take having a mascot of them as a compliment. Tradition is a huge reason for the support to keep a school’s mascot, but it’s not always the only problem.  Cost is a huge issue.  If schools were to change their mascot, they would need to change everything their school spirit is based upon, like logos, school wear, gym floors, bleachers, and much more.  This would lead to an immense amount of money spent, and for some schools that’s not possible. 

Although their argument is valid, we have to consider the other side of the matter.   Recently, in the past few years, Native Americans have started to speak up like never before.  The reason behind Native American resistance towards a mascot may depend on the history of the name and how the mascots depict their people.  Some Native Americans are not bothered by these terms, but some feel strongly against them.  An example of a group that feels strongly towards the changing of a school’s mascot is the Sioux people.  Many members in the Sioux nation believe that North Dakota’s mascot, the Fighting Sioux, disrespect their people by using idiotic mockery to please the crowd. 

This debate has led to many different questions, “How do we know when a school’s mascot should be changed?” “What’s the right thing to do?” or for the schools that have Native American-themed mascots, “Is our mascot considered disrespectful?” They’re hard questions to grasp, but they cannot be ignored.  The issue of Native American-themed mascots is increasing in popularity.  For some, the issue impacts them remarkably, while for others it simply has no importance.  It may be harder to comprehend, because they are not Native American or a member of an opposing tribe.  However, Native Americans have spoken, and it is time to make a change!

A good way to solve this in the future would be to add laws that limit schools from using Native American-themed mascots without the approval of the band, tribe, or nation.  This will help unite schools and tribes, and will ultimately solve the conflict between them by allowing a way for the schools to regain back the respect of the tribes.  It will give Native Americans power that they should have had in the first place.  We are not one group of people but many groups of people.  We cannot exclude a certain group and make bold decisions while expecting no protest.