More than Mascots

● Why Native mascots do more harm than good.

Over the past few decades, the usage of Native American names, imagery, and symbols
by sports teams has become a debated issue of increasing public controversy. Indigenous civil
rights advocacy organizations and their supporters argue that Native American mascots are
degrading to real Native Americans and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. In discussions, the issue
is often reduced to a debate sparked by individual Native Americans' offense toward certain
imagery and terms that centers discourse between opposing personal feelings and opinions. This
angle is flawed because it ignores both the significance of the historical context behind the use of
Native American names and images as well as the findings of social science literature that
explain the deeper psychological and social effects of sports mascots on society.
The use of Native imagery as mascots rose in popularity in 1877 after the Great Sioux
War, a series of battles often seen as a final Native stand against the US government, came to an
end. It continued to spread during the early 1900s. During this time, civilization regulations by
the American government forbade Native Americans from speaking their languages or practicing
their religions while forcing them into reserves. Indigenous children were taken from their
families and forcibly put into boarding schools where they were assimilated into the
Euro-American way of life. The goal was cultural genocide. Many people think Native American
mascots were created to honor and respect Native people, but this viewpoint doesn’t make sense
if the origin of Native American mascots emerged during a period in American history where the
US government actively did everything in its power to dehumanize, erase, and belittle Native
American people and their culture. Dr.Goodnough, an Assistant Professor of History at Tiffin
University put it, Native American mascots were part of a larger cultural shift to “further
dehumanize and trivialize indigenous peoples in new ways.”
Social science research has found that Native American mascots yield negative
psychological effects on both young Native American students and non-Native students alike. In
studies by University of Michigan professor Stephanie Fryberg, exposing Native American
students to Native American mascots decreased their self-esteem, lowered their
achievement-related goals, as well as diminished their sense of community worth and their hopes
of community self-improvement. Native American mascots were found to be more detrimental to
the student’s mental health than being told negative stastitics about Native Americans, such as
the community’s high levels of depression, substance abuse, suicide, drop-outs, and
post-traumatic stress disorder. Findings by the American Psychology Association affirm
Fryberg’s studies. The APA has concluded that Native American mascots and imagery harm
young Native Americans’ social identity development as well as teach non-Native children that
it’s “acceptable to participate in culturally abusive behavior and perpetuate inaccurate
misconceptions about American Indian culture.” These practices were also found to lead to
discrimination and make non-Native students less likely to empathize with Native peoples.
 The general consensus of social science literature is that all stereotypes, whether positive
or negative, are harmful due to the false and misleading associations they foster between a group
and an attribute as well as how they undermine inter-group relations through promoting
prejudiced ideas that often contribute to the problems faced by that ethnicity. The use of Native
American names and imagery in sports is a form of ethnic stereotyping. This ethnic stereotyping
through sports mascots functions to say: “They’re not like you and me, they’re ‘other’—they’re
dehumanized,” according to a professor at American University Washington College of Law,
Victoria Phillips. By transforming Native Americans and their culture into a signifier for a sports
team, you effectively erase the human attributes of the Native American people and undermine
their ability to portray accurate and respectful images of their culture in the media. This
reinforces harmful ideas about Native Americans that reside in our culture regardless of intent.
Mascots subconsciously reinforce stereotypes even through only accidental exposure. People
who live in cities that have sports teams with Native American mascots have been found to be
more likely to hold prejudiced and stereotypical thinking against Native Americans, such as
viewing Native Americans as being wild, primitive, and war-like.
Native Americans today are still dealing with the aftermath of colonization - rampant
poverty, depression, alcohol and drug and domestic abuse. Out of any other group in the nation,
they exhibit the highest level of psychological distress. One reason for this is ongoing
discrimination. Therefore, anything that causes additional harm to Native Americans, such as
ethnic stereotyping of them in the sports world, must be considered a part of the problem and
addressed appropriately. As professor at American University Washington College of Law
Victoria Phillips said, “These harmful stereotypes and caricatures don’t do any good for
communities that we should be doing more to care for—and whose sovereignty and humanity we
should respect.”