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Analysis: Is The College Use Of American Indian Mascots Racist

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The Rogerian Method was created to mediate the two opposing sides of an argument into an agreeable solution. Jane Willy used the method to settle the dispute over the usage of American Indian tribes as mascots. Although she makes a solid resolution, Willy fails to correctly write all parts of the Rogerian Method which are essential to keep the pacifist approach that comes with this method. The opposition to Jane insists that using American Indians as mascots is slanderous to their people. Jane Willy thinks that it is okay to use American Indians as mascots, so long as it is with good intentions. In “Is the College Use of American Indian Mascots Racist,” the accord to the dispute was that it is okay to use American Indians as mascots if the …show more content…

Although it is unorthodox, the Rogerian Method is another way to express an argument through the form of an essay. The Rogerian Method takes a pacifist approach during arguing in which the result is a compromise to both contrasting viewpoints instead of negating the opposition. In “Is the College Use of American Indian Mascots Racist?” the author states the conflict of using American Indian tribes as mascots due to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) stopping it, and her compromise which is to listen to the voice of the American Indians. When evaluating the usage of the Rogerian Method in “Is the College Use of American Indian Mascots Racist,” the author demonstrates incorrect usage of the Rogerian …show more content…

The context portion in a Rogerian argument is to provide insight on the opposite stance, which Jane Willy fails to do. The author attempts to do a lead up to the point of view by stating the NCAA told universities such as “Arkansas State University was told to stop calling itself the Indians, the University of Louisiana at Monroe was told to drop the name War Hawks, the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana was told to drop the name Illini, and the University of Utah was told to drop the name Utes” (Willy, 2005). This is useless information to the reader because it comes before the viewpoint and does not sync up properly in the passge. Next, the author gets to the position of which the “NCAA was responding to a report issued by the U.S. commission on Civil Rights” which labeled the usage of American Indian tribes as mascots as racist and disrespectful to their communities (Willy, 2005). This important information was misplaced and should have been put before the list of colleges affected by the NCAA’s decision to yield a better understanding. The author fails to abide by the Rogerian format due to erroneous placement of the

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The author uses a personal anecdote to begin his argument: he “bought the Cleveland cap with the famous Chief Wahoo Logo on it” (520), which betrayed his Creek mother’s faith; as a result, his mother jerked the cap off his head and “threw it in the trash” (520), which left an indelible impression on him. Shakely’s personal experience is efficient to draw a vivid picture about “Indian Mascot” abuse for audiences. Based on his experience, he believes that possessing dignity and respect is the right to everybody, and it doesn’t apply to majority rules. Therefore, Shakely claims that college and professional teams should abandon Native American names and mascots because it is racial

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This idea “the homogenization of American Indian cultures. Native Americans are portrayed uniformly, disregarding the sometimes enormous differences among the tribes. Thus, through the use of Indian names and mascots, society defines who Native Americans are instead of allowing them to determine how society thinks of them” (McClure, 2014, 114) Growing up with this romantic notion is that it was completely unrealistic. I unknowingly accepted the fact that all Native Americans as spiritual and therefore peaceful. My prejudice only allowed me to see that they were all “most elevated of all humanity”(Burns, 2004) and not fallible as

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Wulf acknowledges that it is inappropriate for teams to continue to use mascots that appropriate another culture. Not only is this rude it 's inconsiderate to those who have to live with the nicknames given to those mascots. Wulf argues that “Racist and derogatory team names have real and harmful effects on [American Indian/Alaska Native] people every day, particularly young people.”(Wulf).

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