Term Paper Option 4
Andrea Castro Mascots are big in the NCAA, and they should be. Mascots are the ultimate pride of the team, but just because they are so important when it comes to different sport teams, they shouldn’t mock the lives and history of Native American Culture. When team mascots run around with cultural attire on it creates an illusion that racism is acceptable in sports. Offensive mascots in the NCAA do not only question racism, but they also create social conflict. Assessing the history of NCAA mascots and legislative decisions regarding them, we can identify how disagreements regarding culture are inescapable and sometimes argued against. For instance, the importance of tradition in America is a part of our culture, but …show more content…
This is a great example of how Generation Y was educated about Native American Culture. Education of all levels often show the struggles of African American and Jewish culture in history. We are taught what they have went through in the past and their struggles to be truly free individuals in todays’ society. American Indian culture, when taught in schools was mainly focused on accessories in the Native American life. Things like beadwork, arrowheads, and feathers are all too familiar when I think back to elementary school. It is not that these things are not important because they most definitely are, but education should show the good, and the bad. When I got older and ventured into high-school, eventually we were taught about Native Americans losing their lands to the White Man, but never the grisly horrors that took place. We were not taught about their children being taken with them and stripped of their culture. We were never taught fully about the inequality they faced when it comes to history. I think W.E.B. Du Bois said it best, “The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land.” (Du Bois 11) So when someone dresses up as an Indian mascot, this is degrading to many Native Americans and it takes what Du Bois has said and proves his point. This paints an image that racism or mockery of American Indians is tolerable, but for other races it is wrong. American Indian history does not get the attention it deserves in a world where equality is supposed to be
Andrea Castro Mascots are big in the NCAA, and they should be. Mascots are the ultimate pride of the team, but just because they are so important when it comes to different sport teams, they shouldn’t mock the lives and history of Native American Culture. When team mascots run around with cultural attire on it creates an illusion that racism is acceptable in sports. Offensive mascots in the NCAA do not only question racism, but they also create social conflict. Assessing the history of NCAA mascots and legislative decisions regarding them, we can identify how disagreements regarding culture are inescapable and sometimes argued against. For instance, the importance of tradition in America is a part of our culture, but …show more content…
This is a great example of how Generation Y was educated about Native American Culture. Education of all levels often show the struggles of African American and Jewish culture in history. We are taught what they have went through in the past and their struggles to be truly free individuals in todays’ society. American Indian culture, when taught in schools was mainly focused on accessories in the Native American life. Things like beadwork, arrowheads, and feathers are all too familiar when I think back to elementary school. It is not that these things are not important because they most definitely are, but education should show the good, and the bad. When I got older and ventured into high-school, eventually we were taught about Native Americans losing their lands to the White Man, but never the grisly horrors that took place. We were not taught about their children being taken with them and stripped of their culture. We were never taught fully about the inequality they faced when it comes to history. I think W.E.B. Du Bois said it best, “The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land.” (Du Bois 11) So when someone dresses up as an Indian mascot, this is degrading to many Native Americans and it takes what Du Bois has said and proves his point. This paints an image that racism or mockery of American Indians is tolerable, but for other races it is wrong. American Indian history does not get the attention it deserves in a world where equality is supposed to be