Mascots are used to portray a sense of unity, strength, and
power for a team. Mascots bring energy during a game by running around trying
to hype up everyone. Many of them are animals but some are Native Americans. The
thing is, these Native American mascots are stereotypical Native Americans with
red skin and big feather headpieces. During
games they run around trying to bring energy to everyone in the audience and
their team but many people just laugh at them because to them it just looks
funny to see this red skinned “animal” prancing around.
If a team’s mascot was dark skinned with kinky hair, who
spoke Xhosa (African clicking language), or a Mexican wearing a sombrero and a poncho,
with maracas the whole world would view it as disrespectful and rude (which it
would be). So why is it OK to have a
Native American as a mascot? People are not thinking that it’s because Native
Americans are powerful, most think it’s because they’re animals, that they’re
not real human beings. I thought as a
society we were over being prejudiced and disrespectful (I know not completely).I
thought we lived in America where everyone is equal and is treated fairly.
It’s not fair to Native Americans, it’s not funny either.
Most people say if Native Americans are offended with being used as a mascot
then they should speak up about it. Well
don’t you think that they have? It’s things like this that make them seem so
small in the world, that make them seem like they have no voice at all. It’s
just wrong and teams should be banned from having a Native American
mascot. Think about what race you are,
black, white, African, Mexican, Indian (which is not Native American), Asian or
whatever you are, how would you feel if all of the stereotypes about your race were
used to be a mascot for the whole world to see and more than likely be made fun
of?
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