Banning Of Racially Based Mascots

Throughout the world sports are supposed to be the pinnacle of fairness, diversity and equality. In all sports there is a sense that everyone can come together around this activity and enjoy themselves regardless of gender, age or ethnicity. Sports officials and teams should not separate people but bring them together. No one group of people should be singled out but they are. Native Americans from across the U.S., like Ward Churchill, have spoken out against mascots based upon their people's culture. The argument presented by Ward Churchill prompted my conclusion that all racially based mascots should be banned from sports because they have the potential to offend Native Americans.

In recent years the controversy of racially based mascots has heated up. Teams using the Native American image like the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins, and the Chicago Blackhawks are the problem. In addition to the existence of these mascots, the fans of these teams participate in derogatory chants and gestures. The Tomahawk Chop for instance, offends Native Americans and it does not belong in sports. There is no room in sports for chants which offend such a dignified and proud people. Regardless of what should happen the scene of Turner Field in Atlanta is full of people wearing fake feathers on their heads and swinging fake tomahawks. Being supportive of a hometown team that some have loved their whole lives shouldn't be controversial to anyone.

Families that attend sports events hosted by teams such as the Atlanta Braves or Cleveland Indians expose young and impressionable minds to offensive viewpoints. These mascots aren't appropriate for children because kids often mistake fictional symbols for reality. If a child went to enough baseball games at Progressive Field, the Cleveland Indians ballpark, they might start believing that all Native Americans look and act like "Chief Wahoo". These mascots are in effect, implanting negative stereotypes into the minds of future generations.

Professional sports teams aren't the only ones stereotyping Native Americans. There are high schools, middle schools and even elementary schools all around the United States that have a mascot relating to the Native American image. Most communities are proud of their teams, yet school traditions involving Native American imagery typically reflect little pride in or knowledge of Native American cultures. Native Americans see figures such as the feather or face painting as sacred. To see these same figures used by drunken fans at a football game turns these once honorable symbols into mere objects in another culture's games. These teams and their fans have dragged the parts of Native cultures they wanted onto the athletic field where young people play being "Indian." Over time, and with practice, generations of children in these schools have come to believe that their "Indian" identity is more than pretending.

Society's view of what the "Indian" image is has been changing for years. Once seen as savages, Native Americans are now seen by the supporters of these mascots as a trivial people whose only place in society involves beer and a ball flying around a field. Apparently putting them on the worst land possible in the United States and making them the poorest demographic in the country wasn't enough punishment for being here first. The victimization of Native Americans has moved from obscenities like small pox infested blankets to Chief Wahoo and the Tomahawk Chop. Oppressors of Native Americans have moved on to humiliating them because killing for money isn't legal anymore. Native American mascots also perpetuate the myth that Native Americans