Team Mascots

      Do team mascots that use Native American names and symbols disparage Native Americans? As a Native American (Cherokee), this is something that I've wrestled with frequently in my own heart and in discussions with other tribal members. It's a muddled thing.
      I remember as a child watching old Westerns and rooting always for the cowboys. It would be a long time before Native Americans would be shown as something noble in movies and on TV. And now that the world is so PC, Native Americans are shown as noble but always doomed. How about a few Native Americans that aren't doomed nor buried by the tragic past, but making their way through the world bravely and proudly? This is off the point, though.
      Some of the team mascots are offensive not because of the name, but because of how they're portrayed on t-shirts, signs, etc. We would never allow a mascot to be a black person stripped down to a loincloth with a savage smile and holding a war axe. We would never allow a team to be called the Jews. Perhaps Native Americans are too sensitive about this. I certainly don't believe that anyone supporting a mascot is doing it to consciously insult Native Americans. It's that unconscious layer of prejudice that Native Americans are trying to get it. To raise awareness that such names are more than advertising slogans. That a real people are tired of being marginized. Is attacking mascots the way to do it? Probably not, but it does bring a lot of media attention. It does get people talking. However, does anyone believe that changing the mascots names will end that prejudice? If they do, they are deluded. Society changes slowly in response to pressure. The mascot question is just part of that pressure.
      Now, how do I feel about it? Mascot names don't bother me. I don't know if it's because they shouldn't or because I've been indoctrinated to be that way. Various people on both sides of the questions would say one or the other. I can only point out that using the mascot question to get media attention will end when all the mascot names have changed. And then where will we be?
      And finally, as an aside to my Native American friends, why is it okay to name our casinos that way we do? Apparently it's okay for us to use such names, just not the white folk. And that is wrong. Either the names are sacred or they are not. Let's not be hypocrites.