The (ab)use of indigenous culture in US sport

For a person who is very interested in sports and has been around sports for a long time, I never realized the effect of sports teams’ names, logos, and mascots had on others until taking a class in my undergraduate.  One reason why I thought it was okay to have these teams’ names was because I grew up always knowing these sports teams having these names. Also I thought that sports organizations would make sure that any symbol used to represent a team/sport would be respectful and accepting. My thoughts soon began to alter with now a deeper understanding of how negative and demeaning some sport teams names, logos, and mascots are.

The social issue that is being examined is the usage of the indigenous culture in US sport and the continuation of oppression of this culture.  One significant factor that plays a large role is symbolism within sport. “Symbols have the power to both unite followers and divide groups into us and them” (Etizen, 2009 p.43).  However, in this particular issue, symbols of the indigenous culture are dividing more than uniting.   

It is important to examine why is this issue dividing rather than uniting and the history behind the indigenous culture.  When speaking about the indigenous culture it can also be referred as the Native American population.  The Native American populations are those who first discovered what is now the US. And at that moment in time the Native American population obtained the power over this land however, only until Christopher Columbus set foot on this land. From that moment on the Native American population power chances were rapidly decreased. Many Native Americans passed away form disease and displacement caused by the U.S. Victory over Britain (History.Com Staff, 2009). Following this victory the federal Indian Removal Act (1830) even more so oppressed the indigenous culture forcing tribes to move so the white settlers can have ‘their’ land (History.Com Staff, 2009).  However, when learning about the history about Native American population it only seems to get talked about around the Thanksgiving Holiday. When growing up as a child celebrating Thanksgiving and watching Disney’s movie Pocahontas provided me with this notion that the indigenous culture is all about uniting and creating peace amongst others. However, the dark side was always casted in the shadows. A parallel situation can be seen in sport.  The rhetoric of sport is supposed to create this level of unity, pride and accepting of others. Although, sport is not all fun and games it has a dark side oppressing many within its figuration such as with the indigenous culture. One can begin to see the differences between the rhetoric and the reality when analyzing this issue from a ProSoc lens.

There are many cases where the usage sports teams’ names, logos, and mascots that resemble the indigenous culture are seen as derogatory, racist and disrespectful.  Take the Big 4 for instance each sports organization has at least one team that has some affiliation to the indigenous culture. 

(See table 1.)

Table 1. 

The Big 4 and connections with the indigenous culture. 

NFL	Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs
MLB	Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians
NBA	Atlanta Hawks formerly known as the Tri-City Blackhawks, Golden State- Warriors
NHL	Chicago Blackhawks

The team that has been viewed to have the most derogatory name is the Washington Redskins football team.  To many Native Americans the term ‘Redskins’ is offensive and most find it equivalent to calling African Americans, ‘niggers’ (Hylton, 2010). There have been many controversies over this team name but nothing has been resolved in this particular case. The Harjo was one attempting solution to make this issue just. The Harjo disputed that the Redskins trademark “may be disparaging of Native Americans to a substantial composite of this group of people," and "may bring Native Americans into contempt or disrepute” (Hylton, 2010). However this attempt to create a more socially just environment failed it was a start to rise from this long withstanding oppression.  The solutions that I purpose are not solutions that will have immediate effect but in hopes to have a lasting effect once put into action. To make this issue more socially just there has been some change in the indigenous symbols are being used within the sport figuration. There has been a start in many schools that have previously used indigenous symbols by changing mascots and schools names in respect of the native culture.  Although that is a start, I think that if any organization wants to use a symbolic name or mascot of any Native Tribe that organization should ask that Tribe first to receive permission. I think this will help the indigenous culture establish more power relations within society as well as re-established their identity within sport the way they want to be recognized.  Also with gaining permission to represent the indigenous culture, those organizations should be educated as well as educate those about the culture they are representing.

References:

Eitzen, S. (2009). Fair and Foul: Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport (4^th ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 

History.Com Staff (2009). Native American Cultures.  A+E Networks. History.com. Website: http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/native-american-cultures

Hylton, J. (2010). Before The Redskins Were The Redskins: The Use Of Native American Team Names In The Formative Era Of American Sports, 1857-1933. North Dakota Law Review, 86(4), 879-903.