American Indian Mascots Racist

On the verge of the millennium, Indian people are still involved in what Michael Haney has described as the longest undeclared war against the American Indian, here in our own homeland. This conflict, no longer on battlefields is now being fought in the courtrooms, company boardrooms, and school rooms over the appropriation of Native American titles, spiritual and heritage emblems by professional sports, Hollywood, schools, and universities. The topic for us is the right to self identification and self determination this is the battle of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media.

The American Indian community for 50 years has worked to banish images and titles like Cleveland's chief Wahoo, Washington redskins, Kansas City bosses, and Atlanta braves. We work to recall persons of consciousness of the use of the symbols resemblance to other historic, racist images of the past. Chief Wahoo outrages Indian persons the identical way that little black sambo offended African Americans and the Frito bandito offended the Hispanic community and should have offended all of us. It assaults the principle of justice.

Last year throughout the newspapers hype that enclosed the baseball playoff sport between New York and Cleveland, the New York mail caught up in the hype covered its front page with the headline, "Take the Tribe and Scalp 'Em." Little anxiety was shown for the Indian young kids, or community living in New York town, or round the country. The American public has been trained by sports commerce, educational organizations, and the newspapers to trivialize Indigenous heritage as common and innocuous entertainment. On high school and school campuses Native American scholars do not seem welcome if the school benefits as its mascot (not a clown, a mythical creature, or an animal) a head, the highest political place you can attain in ...