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Native American Mascots Research Paper

545 Words3 Pages

Should Sports Teams Stop Using Native Americans as a Mascot? For decades, sports teams have used Native Americans as mascots. Professional sports teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Redskins seem to be the most controversial when it comes to this topic. However, many Native Americans, myself included, find the use of our people as mascots offensive. It is a mockery of us as people and sports teams should stop using us to promote their teams. If you were to ask a Native American what they thought about the Washington Redskins, they would tell you that the word "redskin" makes them uncomfortable. The mascot depicts Native Americans as having red skin with a feather in his braided hair. It makes us seem cartoonish, and it makes people think it is okay to put war paint on and wear long black wigs. Since the definition for the word "redskin" is a "contemptuous …show more content…

Not all Native Americans wore headdresses or used tomahawks. Headdresses are worn only by chiefs or those who have earned it. By seeing this, ignorant fans think it is okay to wear these to games and paint their face red to represent a Native American. My last point is that mascots make light of what happened to us as people. Our people suffered a lot during the early years of colonization. Millions died of disease, and at one point, colonists were actually getting paid for killing Penobscot Natives. Mascots are doing us very little justice as Native Americans. Opposing views of this will say that it is honoring us. Teams like the Vikings and Celtics all have mascots who honor their heritage, and we should feel honored. While I agree that those teams do have mascots that honor a certain heritage, do we ever hear of people protesting for the change of the Vikings mascot or name? Native Americans have been protesting the use of Native American mascots for decades, yet only the NCAA has banned the use of

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