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Persuasive Essay On African American Mascots

1577 Words7 Pages

Americans seem to have a deep love for professional sports. Fans from every team form a deep attachment to the name and mascot of their favorite teams. Whether it’s hometown pride or another reason altogether, it’s easy to see this deep attachment. However deep this love may be, some teams have adopted names and mascots that are racist to their very core. For teams like the Washington Redskins, the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, and the Chicago Blackhawks, their names, mascots and imagery promotes very prominent racism and a gross stereotype of Native Americans. The ongoing debate of whether these mascots are racist has reached a crucial point where activists and other indigenous peoples are feeling a very large and very negative ripple effect, which some fans just don’t seem to understand. “Imagine the outrage if a sports team, college or professional, decided to have a mascot that lampooned African …show more content…

Fans are so attached to the name and mascot of their favorite teams that they are unwilling to see things from another perspective. “all of the Indians in my city are perfectly fine with the redskins and all other mascot. Cities like dc and Cleveland and atlanta are all huge cities that love their mascot. . . . WASHINGTON REDSKINS FOR LIFE YOU STUPID SQUAW. GO BACK TO THE RESERVATION” (Fenelon, 2017, page 78). Amanda Blackhorse, who is a member of the Navajo people, a social worker, and an activist against the Washington Redskins name, has received responses such as the one above. The effects that these mascots and terms have had on the Native and non-Native people of the United States are very clear. The response that Amanda Blackhorse received supports the findings of The American Psychological Association and of Wendy Quinton, and proves that exposure to Native American mascots and terms has a detrimental impact on

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