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WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY AROUND TEAM MASCOTS?
The decades-long movement to abolish offensive mascots is gaining traction. The longstanding use of language and imagery that Indigenous people say is disparaging and dehumanizing contributes to a lost sense of identity and low self-esteem in Native communities.
DID YOU KNOW?
There are 1,904 schools (K-12 level) with Native American-themed team names, according to data from the National Congress of American Indians as of May 2021. That includes 45 schools whose teams bear the racial slur "R*dskins."
Source: National Congress of American Indians
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Why sports teams’ mascots are offensive to Native people.
How offensive names, logos and mascots are actively used in both the professional and amateur level of sports and by educational institutions across the country.
How Native people have challenged the use of offensive mascots through public education campaigns, lawsuits, boycotts and nationwide protests.
Why do sports teams display offensive names and mascots?
Native American-themed names, logos and mascots have been common across the country’s sports landscape for more than a century, often appearing to some fans as harmless representations of Indigenous people and cultures. But vast Native-led movements have challenged these depictions in recent decades and have called for the abolition of imagery they say portrays Native people in monolithic, disparaging and dehumanizing ways.
At both the amateur and professional levels, sports teams have donned names that Indigenous groups say are offensive – including names like the Cleveland Indians, Chicago Blackhawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Braves, and Golden State Warriors.
“There are millions of Native Americans still here living, thriving and contributing to broader society,” said Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut and an official with the National Congress of American Indians. “There is no place for offensive mascots in an American society that is as just and compassionate as we claim to be.”
Perhaps most prominent among the sports teams utilizing offensive mascots was the NFL’s Washington Football Team. For over 80 years, the team named itself using a dictionary-defined slur harkening to the colonial practice of skinning indigenous people as proof of a bounty kill.
In 2020, facing mounting political and financial pressure, the team announced it would change its name and franchise designs. Another major franchise, baseball’s Cleveland Indians, announced they were changing their name to the Cleveland Guardians in 2021.
Other professional team names like Braves, Chiefs and Blackhawks may not appear as closely tied to a violent history, but they still represent a dehumanizing, narrowed depiction of Native people, according to Mary Phillips, a Washington D.C.-based member of both the Laguna Pueblo and Umonhon tribal nations.
That depiction reduces Native cultures and legacies of resistance to simplified notions of bravery or warrior mentality deployed only for entertainment or to uphold a team’s professed values of perseverance and resilience, Phillips said. “We’re just not seen as equal.”
What is the impact of offensive mascots on Native people?
Native groups say that apart from being pejorative and racist, names like “R**skins” and mascots like Atlanta’s now-retired Chief Noc-A-Homa also engender poor self-esteem in Indigenous communities, especially among their young people.
“When exposed to these images, the self-esteem of Native youth is harmfully impacted, their self-confidence erodes, and their sense of identity is severely damaged,” the National Congress of American Indians said in a 2013 report examining the effects of offensive mascots. “Specifically, these stereotypes affect how Native youth view the world and their place in society, while also affecting how society views Native peoples. This creates an inaccurate portrayal of Native peoples and their contributions to society.”
Offensive mascots are implicated in acts of self-harm among Native youth — who are already among those with the highest rates of suicide deaths nationwide — but they also invite acts of aggression and harm from non-Natives.
The impact on young people is recognized in some sectors of organized sport, including by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which in 2005 established a policy banning harmful Native American-themed mascots.
But the mascots and logos must be understood as being part of a tradition of racism and dehumanization rooted in conquest and colonization, according to Virginia resident and Choctaw tribal member Joe Gaines.
Gaines, 58, said the mascots obfuscate Indigenous people’s true history and create the notion that Native people are subhuman characters resigned to history. “The logos make people feel like they can do whatever they want; ‘Oh, they’re just natives and natives are not human,’” he said.
Gaines is a member of Rebrand Washington Football, a grassroots group that organized to force the team’s name change. He frequently shares traditional drumming rituals at gatherings and leads sweat lodges for his community.
Gaines said initially, he didn’t get riled up about the team’s name or logo, feeling that there were other pressing injustices in society. But after reflecting on the injustices Native people still face and the psychological toll of those harms, he decided to get involved.
“It hurts my feelings, and I’m a grown man,” Gaines said. “But I say we should pray for these people,” Gaines added, referring to those who espouse bigoted or prejudiced views. “It has a healing effect in itself. I wouldn’t want to become what we despise.”
The movement to abolish offensive mascots tallies victories and charts the path ahead.
On Feb. 2, the Washington Football Team announced its new name “Commanders,” ending its nearly 90-year connection with its former mascot.
Phillips says she is delighted by the prospect of seeing the team’s new name and logo but that much more public education is needed to ensure future generations would learn from this case.
“I feel that freedom and it is a good feeling to be a citizen in two worlds and not have the confrontation come up that someone calls me a redskin and I have to teach them,” Phillips said.
Equal attention and energy must be placed in the work of ridding schools of offensive mascots and logos and on educating children about indigenous history and knowledge, Phillips said.
The National Congress of American Indians maintains a non-public database tracking educational institutions that use offensive mascots and names. The database’s most recent figures say over 1,900 schools use pejorative, Native-“themed” mascots. The organization also documented efforts in at least 20 states banning offensive mascots through legislative channels and through state human rights commissions.
“The mascot issue is not a Native issue or solely about indigenous people being mad,” Gaines said. “It’s a societal issue; what is accepted and what will not be?”
Pondr This
What would you do if you found out your favorite sports teams display mascots, team names or logos that are racist or offensive to Indigenous people?
What would you say to a fan who says their team’s logo or mascot isn’t racist but rather is “honoring” a culture, ethnic group or Indigenous community?
Beyond issuing apologies to groups offended by racist mascots, what should sports teams do to repair the decades of harm caused to Native communities?
FOR LEADERS
What mechanisms of accountability does your organization utilize to ensure corporate language isn’t racist, sexist, or offensive in some other way?
As part of the process of shedding offensive mascots, what are things you want to learn about or share with Native people?
Explore The Stories
Abandoning Offensive Mascots: A Toolkit
Ban opens door to education, conversation and healing
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Yesica Balderrama is a multimedia journalist and writer based in New York City. Her work has appeared on WNYC, NPR, Latino USA, and others. Her writing was recently published in PEN America’s DREAMing Out Loud Anthology. Twitter: @yes_xochitica
From 1930-1972, Stanford University used an “Indian” mascot, a caricature with a big nose. The process to end the use of this mascot began in 1970, when Native students presented their objections to the dean of students.Haley Jones of the Stanford Cardinals wears the modern uniform during media day at the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament on March 31, 2021, in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
In 1972, the Stanford logo was changed to a red S; the Stanford Tree became the marching band’s mascot and the unofficial mascot of Stanford University. Stanford's team name is Cardinal, referring to the vivid red color (not the common songbird), and the university does not have an official mascot. The Stanford Tree and the marching band perform after the 102nd Rose Bowl game on Jan. 1, 2016, at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)
Dartmouth College used “Indians” as its unofficial team nickname starting in the 1920s, chosen for its association with Dartmouth’s founding mission to educate Native Americans. In 1974, the Dartmouth board of trustees voted to remove the Indian as Dartmouth's unofficial mascot and adopted the team name Big Green. Green has been the school’s color since 1866 and the name was also a reference to the Dartmouth Green, a large lawn in the center of campus. A Dartmouth College player, sporting the large “D” that teams use on their uniforms, deflects the ball during the game against Notre Dame during the Collegiate Rugby Championship at PPL Park on May 31, 2014, in Chester, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Larry French/Getty Images)
In 1994, Park High school in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, changed its “Indian” mascot to the Wolfpack, and in 2018, the district decided to finally remove the mascot mosaic from the floor of the school. (Logo courtesy of Park High School)
In 1994, St. John’s University-New York, the third largest Catholic university in the U.S., changed its nickname from Redmen to Red Storm amidst pressure from Native groups. The nickname was originally based on the teams’ red uniforms but took on a racial connotation when the team started using a headdress in its logo and a caricature of a Native American as its mascot. A St. John's Red Storm player, right, plays a game versus Butler at Carnesecca Arena on Jan. 12, 2021, in New York City. (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images)
In 2005, the NCAA made a decision to sanction 19 schools with Native American logos and/or nicknames that were deemed to be "hostile and abusive," including the University of North Dakota. In 2012, after years of legal and legislative battles, the North Dakota Board of Higher Education voted to get rid of UND’s Fighting Sioux name and Indian head logo. A new nickname, the Fighting Hawks, was selected in 2015. University of North Dakota forward Joel Janatuinen (25), in a uniform with the new logo, celebrates a goal during a hockey game at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., on Feb. 10, 2018. There remains especially strong resistance to the name change among UND hockey fans. (Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Quarterback Taylor Heinicke of the Washington Football Team passes against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first half of the NFC Wild Card playoff game at FedExField on Jan. 09, 2021, in Landover, Maryland. In 2015, after decades of protest, a federal judge ruled for the cancellation of the trademark of the Washington “R*dskins” football team name on the basis that it was “disparaging to Native Americans.” In 2020, the team announced it would drop its logo and name. The team is currently known as the Washington Football Team. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
In 2019, Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), seen here being sworn in as governor in January 2019, signed “An Act To Ban Native American Mascots in All Public Schools” into law, making Maine the first state in the nation to fully outlaw the use of such images by educational institutions and athletic programs. It is now illegal for any public education institution in the state to use a name, symbol or image related to a Native American tribe, person, custom or tradition for use as a mascot, logo or team name. (Staff photo by Brianna Soukup/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
The first recorded protests of “Chief Wahoo,” the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team’s Native American mascot caricature, occurred in 1970, led by the American Indian Movement. Years of protests followed, and in 2018, the team finally decided to remove the mascot logo from its uniforms for the 2019 season. However, the team name remained unchanged and the team continued to sell merchandise with the offensive logo. In 2020, the team announced it would change its name. Here, Jake Bauers, wearing an updated uniform without a team name or logo, celebrates his home run against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on May 19, 2021, in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
In 2020, after much public debate, the Paw Paw School Board in Paw Paw, Michigan, voted to retire its “R*dskins” mascot at the end of the school year. They are now the Red Wolves. Paw Paw's school board turned the decision process for a new mascot over to a task force that included 27 students; more than 700 submissions were reviewed. The task force was charged with deciding on a mascot based on respect and inclusiveness, and this graphic logo was the final result. The other finalists were “Phoenix” and “Lions.”
Highlights of the progress to rid sports of hurtful images
Since the 1960s, there has been a movement to update mascots and team names in sports, to remove offensive and derogatory Native American stereotypes. Change the Mascot is a national campaign to end the use of the racial slur “R*dskins” as the mascot and name of the NFL team in Washington, D.C. In July 2020, the Washington team finally announced it would drop the name and related logo.
Launched by the Oneida Indian Nation, the organization has tracked the many changes that have happened over time at the high school, college and professional levels. These are some examples of how change has happened.
Originally published on iPondr.com June 3, 2021
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Description text goes hereAngela Jimenez is an iPondr visuals editor. A long-time contributor to The New York Times and Getty Images, she has also does work with Minnesota Public Radio and has worked as a photo editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Her work has been honored by the Magenta Foundation, American Photography, Review Santa Fe and the Communication Arts Photo Annual, supported by grants from The Alexia Foundation student award, The Puffin Foundation and the Aspen Institute/Pluribus Project, and acquired into the permanent collection of the Leslie Lohman Museum for Gay & Lesbian Art.
She has taught photojournalism & multimedia to graduate students in the NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and to art majors at Nassau Community College.
She has crowd-funded and self-published two photo books: Welcome Home: Building the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (2009), about the worker community of one of the oldest and largest lesbian-feminist gatherings in the world, and Racing Age (2017), a collection of essays and photographs about competitive masters track & field athletes age 60 and older.
In 2018-2019, her project Racing Age began touring senior centers accompanied by community engagement workshops through an Arts Tour grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
Topic in Review
We looked at what leads to the lack of representation in tech, particularly for Black, Indigenous and Latino people of color. We also spoke with leaders in the field who have ideas on how to fix the issues that prevent more people of color from being a part of the tech industry.
Continue Your Journey
The lack of opportunities and access to training and education in tech for young people is one area that we explored in this Pause and Pondr.
An August survey by Wiley found that 18–28-year-old workers currently in the technology field listed encouragement to pursue a career in technology by their high school as the most common reason for doing so. Around five out of 10 young tech workers cited this as one of their main motivations.
The survey also found that half (50%) of young tech workers wanted to leave, or left, a tech or IT job because the company culture made them feel unwelcome or uncomfortable. The number increased to six out of 10 when surveying women of color.
MIT lecturer Malia Lazu, who spoke to iPondr@Work, said the diversity, equity and inclusion work within tech companies can seem daunting at first. “When you start changing, it can feel like you’re moving the goalpost, and it’s really important to hold space for that,” she said.
“Rather than just deciding to act, first get to know. Build an open line of communication in your company around (diversity, equity and inclusion) by having a cross-management employee committee. You want to hear what employee resource groups (ERGs) are talking about, and you want the board to care what the ERGs talk about.”
Here are some notable organizations and that promote diversity in tech:
Kapor Center: The center aims to enhance diversity and inclusion in technology and entrepreneurship through research and access to tech programs and funding.
Project Include: This nonprofit offers a core set of diversity and inclusion recommendations, backed by data and research, for tech industry leaders to implement at their own companies.
Reboot Representation: A coalition of tech companies that includes Adobe, Dell, Intel and Microsoft, Reboot Representation funds grants and programs to increase the number of Black, Latina, and Native American women in computer science.