This week in the New York Times, there was issue about the North Dakota fighting Sioux Indian Mascot. Inter-tribal is very much against the use of Indian Mascots. I thought this would be a good opportunity to share with my follow Bonners as to why Indian Mascots are so oppressive. With the exception of the Seminoles, many Indian Nations do not support the use of their name as a mascot. American Indians are the only race of people that are used as mascots. We don't say the fighting Jews or the Niagara Negros. People would be outraged if this happened, so why is okay for American Indians to be displayed like this? I know that many of you are probably thinking about Notre Dame's Fighting Irish, well the Irish Catholic Priests at Notre Dame chose this as their mascot.
Historically, many of these teams came up with Mascots- using replication of sacred artifacts, in a time when it was illegal for American Indians to practice their religion. Because they are still using the mascots and these “sacred” objects, it shows the lack of respect people have for American Indian religion. I think that one reason why mascots are so harmful is because it keeps American Indians mystified and romanticized. When people think about American Indians, the image of a Sioux Chief comes to mind. The majority of people don't think of a modern day image of American Indians. Many times these images are cartoons, which reinforces the idea that American Indians are not real. I could go on for a very long time about this but I think I'm going to stop there. Here is a link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/us/13sioux.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Fighting%20Sioux%20&st=cse And if anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to let me know.
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