This wonderful piece is re-posted with permission from Dr. Debbie Reese and her American Indians in Children’s Literature site. As you think about the ugly perpetuation of racist caricatures of American Indians by major sports teams, think also about how many high schools around the nation still feature outdated native-themed mascots. Isn’t it time to change our team mascots to reflect our respect for native peoples? A cartoonishly stereotypical image isn’t respectful. Follow hashtags #not4sale and #notyourmascot plus Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry on Twitter.
On May 31 of last year (2013), Education Week pointed to a new study of high school graduation rates that reported that the graduation rates of American Indian students had declined in three out of the five years the study examined. In 2010, Susan C. Faircloth and John W. Tippeconnic published a paper in UCLA Civil Rights Project that had similar findings. In their full report, they cite work by previous studies that tries to make sense of why this happens. Some factors are lack of empathy among teachers, irrelevant curriculum, lack of interest in school.
Anyone who follows Native news or political dimensions of sports news knows that for the last year, there has been an increase in the media coverage of the use of Native imagery by sports teams. Some news outlets have decided to stop using some team names in their reporting, and many are critical of Dan Snyder’s misguided efforts to garner support from Native people for his entrenched use of “Redskins” as the name of his team.
In 2008, Stephanie Fryberg’s research provided empirical data on the damage mascot imagery does to the self efficacy of Native students. Her research was of such import that the American Psychological Association issued statements calling for an end to their use. If her study was replicated with younger children, using images they see in picture books and fiction they read or are asked to read in school, I think the results would be the same.
I am hopeful that increased attention to mascots like the one used by the Washington DC pro football team, or the one used by the Cleveland pro baseball team will bring an end to their use of that imagery. With that increased awareness, I hope that Native and non-Native parents look with informed eyes at images of Native peoples in the books their children read for pleasure or study. The images that adults embrace are images they’ve seen since they were children. Some of those images were in movies, some on items in the grocery store, and many were in children’s books.
On October 19, 2013, I wrote about the Washington DC pro football team and shared images from children’s books that are similar to its mascot. Today, I’m showing images that resemble those of Cleveland’s mascot.
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