Native American Mascot Essay

The controversy over sports mascots that some perceive as offensive is nothing new. For example, the most controversial of the sports mascots are the Native American ones. Many college athletic programs and sports organizations have dropped their Native American mascots as recently as in the past ten years. Meanwhile others have not, including professional teams such as the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians, and the Washington Redskins. Even though Native American mascots are sometimes viewed as offensive they should not have to be changed, for they capture the collective spirit of a college community, support sports traditions, and even honor the heritage of Native Americans.

Has anyone even bothered to check if most people find these types of mascots to be offensive? No, and according to a study done by Sports Illustrated it reported that 84% of Native American did not have a problem with the mascots (Shakely, 646). These names are not meant to be offensive, but to pay homage to the Native Americans. For example, the baseball team the Atlanta Braves. When someone thinks of the word brave, they think of courageous and honorable too. Without the use of the Native American mascots, some people might not even know that these tribes even existed. Even though some of the dances of the things that the mascots perform are at times questionable, they are not intended to be used as mockery. They are not trying to show the Native Americans as stupid village people or mimic and make fun of their ceremonies, these actions are used in the spirit of the game. These mascots help to keep the tradition and identity of the tribes.

The action of taking away the mascot from a sports organization will do more harm than good. It will cost millions of dollars to the franchise and people will get upset because that is how a lot of people identify with a team. It is not easy or inexpensive to remove ethnic and racial stereotypes. Stanford University tried that in 1972 when they changed from the Indians to the Cardinals. Richard Lyman, who was president there at the time, said the university lost millions of alumni dollars. (Shakely, 646). Sometimes it is not the mascot but more of how the sports team performed that year. According to all the people Playboy magazine polled, 90 percent of the Native Americans did not find the mascot offensive. It was only one man from New Mexico that claimed the Redskins logo to be offensive. One could argue that it was the poor year that the Redskins had that made