Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Is it just me, or do you guys also find that mascots of schools and sports teams that are like Indians or Redskins are kind of racist? One of my high school's rivals is the Indians, and they have a big picture of a Native American with a feathered headdress on the side of their building. There is also a football team called the Washington Redskins. For those who may not know, Redskin is slang that refers to Native Americans, and if you look up the term "redskin," then you'll see that it is labeled as offensive. Some Native American activists also think the term is a slur.
I guess I just don't understand why someone would have a race be their mascot, especially when mascots are usually animals. Personally, I think having a race be a mascot makes it seem like people view them as animals, which is completely absurd. An argument I have heard was that teams and schools with Indians as their mascots are honoring Native Americans. If they were actually honoring them, they wouldn't have painted such a stereotypical and bestial image of them. Plus, you don't see sports teams with African Americans as mascots, because that's obviously racist. Why is it different with Indians or Redskins?
An argument could be that we also have mascots that are knights and cowboys, but those are not terms specific to an entire race of people.
I don't really know where this rant is going. I'm literally in class and writing this, and this topic has been on my mind for a while now. Anyways, feel free to share your opinion on this matter. I'm 100% white so I don't really know how much my opinion on this topic is valid.
