Offensive Mascots Pros And Cons

“The use of human mascots enables a line of thinking in which people look at others as objects and not people” (Greenlee 2). Dr. Anton Teuer said this standing up for what he believed in and trying to put an end to the use of derogatory mascot names. He and many others have tired abolishing some of the hurtful names but there are still too many left. Throughout the years, there have been many cases involving offensive mascots that have occurred, and many opinions have been formed as a result. Sports organizations and universities must put a stop to allowing teams to wrongly depict cultures or groups of people. Even though this is not an old subject, there is still a very deep history involved. As time has progressed, offensive cases have shaped …show more content…
The group began in 1968 (“History of Progress” 1) to try to protect those who believe they were being inaccurately depicted and wanted to put an end to the racist logos available for all to see. After this group became more known, more groups like it started coming out of the woodwork, and transformed the ending of derogatory mascots from an idea to a movement. The NCAA created a committee of their own and called it the Minority and Interests Committee. The committee took a very serious stance on the issues involving the disrespect of ceremonies and traditions that the cultures celebrate (1). After these groups formed, they started singling out schools and cracking down on the use of inappropriate mascots. Dartmouth was the first school to have to change their name in 1969 from the Indians to the Big Green (1) which began the long and painstaking journey to remove all racist team names. Some may believe that this has no impact on their lives, but they are wrong because our very own Illinois Valley Community College had to change its name as well from the Apache to the Eagles (1). As time went on many colleges had to change their names because of the laws put into place by the NCAA and the U.S. Census Bureau. Schools that have certain mascots that do not follow the stance that the NCAA has on ethnic student welfare would have to change its mascot or face penalties presented by the NCAA (1). The U.S. Census Bureau adopted a policy of not allowing teams with American Indian or Alaska Native names to be able to mock or falsely represent their culture. With these two big associations on the side of the victim, many schools and associations were now in the public eye, were faced with more scrutiny than ever, and were forced to do the right thing and change their names and try not tarnish the school or