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Indians as sports mascots

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OliveOilMom
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30 Mar 2012, 7:39 am

What do you think of Indians (Native American type) as school or sports mascots?

I thought of starting this thread while posting something in the Stats forum, so I did.

My kid's high school mascot is the Choctaws, and they have a big statue of a Choctaw Indian in the entrance to the school in traditional clothing with feathered head dress and a tomehawk. They have tomahawks painted in the parking lot pointing direction insead of arrows. They did have to give up the having a guy dressed up as one as a mascot at football games because of some law, but otherwise, they are still the Choctaws.

I've heard of people protesting using Indians as mascots, and some people saying that it's harmless. Most people down here are part Indian, in fact I haven't met anybody from here who isn't. My great grandmother was full blooded Indian and it's never bothered me at all. Most people down here, it doesn't bother.

I can see how some people would see it as bad though. Having the Southside Italians, or the Roosevelt Swedes, or the Jackson Heights Jews wouldnt make very much sense, but I think thats because those are just regular people, where the Indian mascots that are used are not the regular people today who are Indian, but the Indian Chief from the Old West.

What do you think?


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30 Mar 2012, 10:38 am

When war becomes obsolete any warrior will be used as a sports mascot.



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30 Mar 2012, 10:42 am

What about depicting Indians on government food items? Anyone that used to receive them, I'm sure, remembers Big Chief Peanut Butter.



AspieRogue

30 Mar 2012, 11:07 am

OliveOilMom wrote:
What do you think of Indians (Native American type) as school or sports mascots?

I thought of starting this thread while posting something in the Stats forum, so I did.

My kid's high school mascot is the Choctaws, and they have a big statue of a Choctaw Indian in the entrance to the school in traditional clothing with feathered head dress and a tomehawk. They have tomahawks painted in the parking lot pointing direction insead of arrows. They did have to give up the having a guy dressed up as one as a mascot at football games because of some law, but otherwise, they are still the Choctaws.

I've heard of people protesting using Indians as mascots, and some people saying that it's harmless. Most people down here are part Indian, in fact I haven't met anybody from here who isn't. My great grandmother was full blooded Indian and it's never bothered me at all. Most people down here, it doesn't bother.

I can see how some people would see it as bad though. Having the Southside Italians, or the Roosevelt Swedes, or the Jackson Heights Jews wouldnt make very much sense, but I think thats because those are just regular people, where the Indian mascots that are used are not the regular people today who are Indian, but the Indian Chief from the Old West.

What do you think?



Native Americans are not Indian. You see, Indian is a nationality and not a racial taxon. And furthermore, native americans have no geographical or genetic relationship to India whatsoever! They came here from Siberia and are most closely related to east asians.


I do wonder what people would think if an actual Indian were used as a mascot for a sports team.



OliveOilMom
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30 Mar 2012, 11:12 am

AspieRogue wrote:
OliveOilMom wrote:
What do you think of Indians (Native American type) as school or sports mascots?

I thought of starting this thread while posting something in the Stats forum, so I did.

My kid's high school mascot is the Choctaws, and they have a big statue of a Choctaw Indian in the entrance to the school in traditional clothing with feathered head dress and a tomehawk. They have tomahawks painted in the parking lot pointing direction insead of arrows. They did have to give up the having a guy dressed up as one as a mascot at football games because of some law, but otherwise, they are still the Choctaws.

I've heard of people protesting using Indians as mascots, and some people saying that it's harmless. Most people down here are part Indian, in fact I haven't met anybody from here who isn't. My great grandmother was full blooded Indian and it's never bothered me at all. Most people down here, it doesn't bother.

I can see how some people would see it as bad though. Having the Southside Italians, or the Roosevelt Swedes, or the Jackson Heights Jews wouldnt make very much sense, but I think thats because those are just regular people, where the Indian mascots that are used are not the regular people today who are Indian, but the Indian Chief from the Old West.

What do you think?



Native Americans are not Indian. You see, Indian is a nationality and not a racial taxon. And furthermore, native americans have no geographical or genetic relationship to India whatsoever! They came here from Siberia and are most closely related to east asians.


I do wonder what people would think if an actual Indian were used as a mascot for a sports team.


It's just a word that's been used for years and most people know the difference between American Indian and Asian Indian. I'm very aware that they aren't related to India and I'm aware of why they are called that.

I think i mentioned something about how using other ethnicities would be odd as a mascot because they are just regular people. Using an Asian Indian would fall under the examples I gave, I suppose.


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AspieRogue

30 Mar 2012, 11:22 am

OliveOilMom wrote:
AspieRogue wrote:
OliveOilMom wrote:
What do you think of Indians (Native American type) as school or sports mascots?

I thought of starting this thread while posting something in the Stats forum, so I did.

My kid's high school mascot is the Choctaws, and they have a big statue of a Choctaw Indian in the entrance to the school in traditional clothing with feathered head dress and a tomehawk. They have tomahawks painted in the parking lot pointing direction insead of arrows. They did have to give up the having a guy dressed up as one as a mascot at football games because of some law, but otherwise, they are still the Choctaws.

I've heard of people protesting using Indians as mascots, and some people saying that it's harmless. Most people down here are part Indian, in fact I haven't met anybody from here who isn't. My great grandmother was full blooded Indian and it's never bothered me at all. Most people down here, it doesn't bother.

I can see how some people would see it as bad though. Having the Southside Italians, or the Roosevelt Swedes, or the Jackson Heights Jews wouldnt make very much sense, but I think thats because those are just regular people, where the Indian mascots that are used are not the regular people today who are Indian, but the Indian Chief from the Old West.

What do you think?



Native Americans are not Indian. You see, Indian is a nationality and not a racial taxon. And furthermore, native americans have no geographical or genetic relationship to India whatsoever! They came here from Siberia and are most closely related to east asians.


I do wonder what people would think if an actual Indian were used as a mascot for a sports team.


It's just a word that's been used for years and most people know the difference between American Indian and Asian Indian. I'm very aware that they aren't related to India and I'm aware of why they are called that.

I think i mentioned something about how using other ethnicities would be odd as a mascot because they are just regular people. Using an Asian Indian would fall under the examples I gave, I suppose.



I associate the word "asian" with mongoloid peoples. So I simpy use Indian(occasionally with the qualifier "east") but never refer to native americans as indians/american indians. That term needs to be eliminated. Not for the sake of political correctness, but for the sake of facts.



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30 Mar 2012, 12:53 pm

Quote:
Having the Southside Italians, or the Roosevelt Swedes, or the Jackson Heights Jews wouldnt make very much sense, but I think thats because those are just regular people, where the Indian mascots that are used are not the regular people today who are Indian, but the Indian Chief from the Old West

That is the crux of the problem right there. The peoples used as mascots (a category mostly composed of animals, btw) are almost exclusively peoples who were extremely oppressed and/or discriminated against when the team was named, some of them to the point of having been subsumed inot the main culture and/or no longer existing.

Do you think that the 'Choctaw' mascot represents you, individually, your race? Or do you think it represents them, those other guys that we beat and sent to reservations?



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30 Mar 2012, 12:54 pm

It's better to use "Native Americans" or "First Nations" when referring to the indigenous peoples of North America. No confusion, no insult.



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30 Mar 2012, 12:56 pm

AspieRogue wrote:
OliveOilMom wrote:
What do you think of Indians (Native American type) as school or sports mascots?

I thought of starting this thread while posting something in the Stats forum, so I did.

My kid's high school mascot is the Choctaws, and they have a big statue of a Choctaw Indian in the entrance to the school in traditional clothing with feathered head dress and a tomehawk. They have tomahawks painted in the parking lot pointing direction insead of arrows. They did have to give up the having a guy dressed up as one as a mascot at football games because of some law, but otherwise, they are still the Choctaws.

I've heard of people protesting using Indians as mascots, and some people saying that it's harmless. Most people down here are part Indian, in fact I haven't met anybody from here who isn't. My great grandmother was full blooded Indian and it's never bothered me at all. Most people down here, it doesn't bother.

I can see how some people would see it as bad though. Having the Southside Italians, or the Roosevelt Swedes, or the Jackson Heights Jews wouldnt make very much sense, but I think thats because those are just regular people, where the Indian mascots that are used are not the regular people today who are Indian, but the Indian Chief from the Old West.

What do you think?



Native Americans are not Indian. You see, Indian is a nationality and not a racial taxon. And furthermore, native americans have no geographical or genetic relationship to India whatsoever! They came here from Siberia and are most closely related to east asians.


I do wonder what people would think if an actual Indian were used as a mascot for a sports team.


THANK YOU COULDNT AGREE MORE I hate it when they say we are indian we are native american NOT INDIAN my ancestores immagrated from parts of russia befor they discovered america.

And their have been a lot of things used for school mascots.



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30 Mar 2012, 2:08 pm

It depends on the depiction really. The Washington Redskins is obviously the most offensive but is the one least likely to change. Marquette University's old mascot was the Warriors and it depicted a Native American warrior, something I didn't find offensive at all in comparison, and they went so far to completely change the name of the team as well as the mascot.

As long as the depiction is done in a derogatory way then I think it's okay. There are other team names and mascots that depict other people historical or not. Spartans, Trojans, Vikings, Irish, Knickerbockers, Celtics, Cajuns, Quakers, Aztecs, etc.



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30 Mar 2012, 2:10 pm

AspieRogue wrote:
OliveOilMom wrote:
What do you think of Indians (Native American type) as school or sports mascots?

I thought of starting this thread while posting something in the Stats forum, so I did.

My kid's high school mascot is the Choctaws, and they have a big statue of a Choctaw Indian in the entrance to the school in traditional clothing with feathered head dress and a tomehawk. They have tomahawks painted in the parking lot pointing direction insead of arrows. They did have to give up the having a guy dressed up as one as a mascot at football games because of some law, but otherwise, they are still the Choctaws.

I've heard of people protesting using Indians as mascots, and some people saying that it's harmless. Most people down here are part Indian, in fact I haven't met anybody from here who isn't. My great grandmother was full blooded Indian and it's never bothered me at all. Most people down here, it doesn't bother.

I can see how some people would see it as bad though. Having the Southside Italians, or the Roosevelt Swedes, or the Jackson Heights Jews wouldnt make very much sense, but I think thats because those are just regular people, where the Indian mascots that are used are not the regular people today who are Indian, but the Indian Chief from the Old West.

What do you think?



Native Americans are not Indian. You see, Indian is a nationality and not a racial taxon. And furthermore, native americans have no geographical or genetic relationship to India whatsoever! They came here from Siberia and are most closely related to east asians.


I do wonder what people would think if an actual Indian were used as a mascot for a sports team.


I think the part about how Christopher Columbus said if anyone says this is not india I will cut out your tongues comes in to play here.


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30 Mar 2012, 2:11 pm

Jacoby wrote:
It depends on the depiction really. The Washington Redskins is obviously the most offensive but is the one least likely to change. Marquette University's old mascot was the Warriors and it depicted a Native American warrior, something I didn't find offensive at all in comparison, and they went so far to completely change the name of the team as well as the mascot.

As long as the depiction is done in a derogatory way then I think it's okay. There are other team names and mascots that depict other people historical or not. Spartans, Trojans, Vikings, Irish, Knickerbockers, Celtics, Cajuns, Quakers, Aztecs, etc.


I am Cherokee and do not find the washington redskins masscot offensive at all.



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30 Mar 2012, 2:14 pm

Joker wrote:
Jacoby wrote:
It depends on the depiction really. The Washington Redskins is obviously the most offensive but is the one least likely to change. Marquette University's old mascot was the Warriors and it depicted a Native American warrior, something I didn't find offensive at all in comparison, and they went so far to completely change the name of the team as well as the mascot.

As long as the depiction is done in a derogatory way then I think it's okay. There are other team names and mascots that depict other people historical or not. Spartans, Trojans, Vikings, Irish, Knickerbockers, Celtics, Cajuns, Quakers, Aztecs, etc.


I am Cherokee and do not find the washington redskins masscot offensive at all.


do you find any depictions of Native Americans to be offensive tho?

I think if you were going to offended by any, that would be the one.



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30 Mar 2012, 2:20 pm

Jacoby wrote:
Joker wrote:
Jacoby wrote:
It depends on the depiction really. The Washington Redskins is obviously the most offensive but is the one least likely to change. Marquette University's old mascot was the Warriors and it depicted a Native American warrior, something I didn't find offensive at all in comparison, and they went so far to completely change the name of the team as well as the mascot.

As long as the depiction is done in a derogatory way then I think it's okay. There are other team names and mascots that depict other people historical or not. Spartans, Trojans, Vikings, Irish, Knickerbockers, Celtics, Cajuns, Quakers, Aztecs, etc.


I am Cherokee and do not find the washington redskins masscot offensive at all.


do you find any depictions of Native Americans to be offensive tho?

I think if you were going to offended by any, that would be the one.


Not really if I find any thing to be offensive to native americans is the common stereotypes we face most of my family are of cherokee descent some are even redskin fans it just never really bothered me.



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30 Mar 2012, 2:47 pm

Joker wrote:

Not really if I find any thing to be offensive to native americans is the common stereotypes we face most of my family are of cherokee descent some are even redskin fans it just never really bothered me.


I thought most of your family were Irish (or German)?


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30 Mar 2012, 2:49 pm

puddingmouse wrote:
Joker wrote:

Not really if I find any thing to be offensive to native americans is the common stereotypes we face most of my family are of cherokee descent some are even redskin fans it just never really bothered me.


I thought most of your family were Irish (or German)?


They are on my mums side of the family on my worthless fathers side the man that didn't see me until I was 18 is Cherokee his granmother was full blooded his mom is half my dad is over a quarter not sure what that makes me though?