This year, more than a dozen schools have either retired a Native American mascot or changed their team’s name. “I feel like that’s a conversation that should be continued, especially when we’re talking about how does this affect our Native students, and non-Native students, really,” Cross said.īattles over the removal of racist mascots at schools have often been met with protests by mostly white alumni or been dragged out for years by school boards that say they have to study the issue first. They're also calling for more research to help the public understand the impact of such stereotypes on children. But with so many schools still using these mascots, advocates and researchers say now is not the time to let up the pressure. Some advocates worry that with high-profile teams such as Cleveland and Washington doing away with some of the most egregious examples, most people will move on from the issue, feeling it has been resolved. That same report also concluded that Native American mascots encouraged the use of racial slurs - such as the one in the former name of the Washington Football Team - by non-Indigenous people, which is “associated with higher levels of depression, substance abuse, suicidality, increased pain and maladaptive health behaviors among Native American adults, adolescents and children.” According to a research report compiled by the Oneida Nation in 2013, the widespread use of Native American imagery and stereotypes in sports caused Native American participants to report lower self-worth. Multiple studies from the last decade came to similar conclusions. Negative stereotypes of Native Americans "as aggressive and primitive are a direct result of viewing Native American mascots," said Stephanie Cross, a doctoral candidate in the psychology department at the University of Oklahoma and a citizen of the Comanche Nation.Ĭross said her research on such mascots showed that their continued use affects how Native American people perceive themselves and what they are capable of, and also reinforces racial stereotypes and myths held by non-Indigenous people. Indigenous activists and mental health researchers say schools and sports teams should move faster to remove them, because the well-being of Indigenous children is at stake. Yet, more than 1,800 K-12 school teams still use Native American-related mascots, according to the National Congress of American Indians. In Hot Springs, Montana, the Savages became the Savage Heat, and in Vermont the Rice Memorial Little Indians became the Green Knights. Some change has already been happening, slowly over decades.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |