The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

EDITORIAL: Sports teams should not keep American Indian mascots

When the Atlanta Braves brought its disrespectful spectacle known as the “Tomahawk Chop” to a national audience in 1991 when they faced off against the Minnesota Twins in the World Series, it was no wonder why many American Indians turned out in protest.

With Braves’ billionaire owner Ted Turner and his wife Jane Fonda leading the club’s game ritual, the hometown crowd howled its signature pathetic mock American Indian chant while doing the “Tomahawk Chop” with big, red foam tomahawks.

It was horrible then and still is, thanks to Atlanta’s continuing crowd tradition that coincides with the Florida State Seminoles’ similar game-day ritual.

Now, hopefully, the long list of sports teams and schools that still use nicknames and mascots named after American Indians will go away.

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The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is scheduled to vote in April on a statement that would condemn such sports teams or mascots named after or in reference to American Indians as violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

According to Fox News, the statement could lead to a cutoff in federal funding, if adopted and widely accepted, for schools that use the nicknames and mascots.

This step could be a major building block in the fight against some of the most blatant public racism and prejudice that, for some reason, still is accepted today.

A “yes” vote hopefully would add some influence to those pro sports teams outside the government’s reach to make a change. The Cleveland Indians baseball club is another team that needs to make a change. Although their team name was chosen in tribute to former Cleveland ballplayer and American Indian Louis Sockalexis, it’s taken on a disappointing and unhonorable form. The team’s mascot, Chief Wahoo, is a horrible stereotype of a silly grinning, red-faced American Indian wearing a feather.

Changing a high school or professional sports team’s nickname is not a big deal. One of my high school’s rivals were the Owatonna Indians. In the early 1990s, though, the school changed its nickname to the Huskies to not be offensive. It obviously seemed different at first but was quickly accepted. After all, it’s just the team’s nickname and not the end of the world.

Professional sports teams also should change for the better. A couple of years ago, the NBA’s Washington Bullets changed their name to the Wizards due to the negative meanings of the word “bullets” and the fact that murder was the No. 1 problem in D.C.

So, if one pro team in Washington is willing to change its name for a more positive and non-offensive one, why is the town’s football team, the Redskins, so unwilling to change its nickname, which is the most offensive one in sports? It’s obviously disrespectful to American Indians and an inappropriate term for these times, yet the team refuses to change. Some newspapers refer to the team in print as just Washington because of how offensive the reference is.

Selene Phillips, a visiting professor from the University of North Dakota and an Ojibwa from Lac du Flambeau, said her research has demonstrated that the use of American Indian mascots situates them in U.S. history. One example is the use of an American Indian in full head dress, which isn’t a true depiction of American Indians today.

Yet people like Roger Clegg, general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity in Washington, D.C., told Fox News the mascots were chosen not to offend or denigrate American Indians, but in admiration for their bravery and fierceness.

But Clegg and others who say the mascots and nicknames honor American Indians are wrong.

Phillips said it makes no sense that the use of these mascots is a way of honoring the American Indian people.

“It’s dehumanizing, degrading and detrimental to Native American children,” she said.

One online news poll found a majority of its users thought the recent attempt to condemn sports teams using names and mascots named after American Indians as “political correctness out of control.”

P.C. gone wrong is using a term such as “vertically-challenged” for a short person, not trying to stop offensive, stereotypical material aimed at a race of people and its past culture.

There have been many American Indians offended by these mascot stereotypes and team names and they’ve vocally made that known. It’s time America really honors and pays true respect to American Indians by condemning those who are offending them through these actions.

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EDITORIAL: Sports teams should not keep American Indian mascots