EDUCATION
Both the American Psychological Association and the American Sociology Association call for the immediate retirement of all Indigenous mascots, symbols, images and personalities. This is due to the fact that racist and racial discriminations threaten human development especially for children, they drastically lowers the self esteem of indigenous people again especially for children, and they harm indigenous people in psychological, educational and social ways. All stereotypes manufactured by dominant cultures or inherited from past cultures damage not only the children and adult members of the targeted class, but other protected classes of people because it provokes more acts of discrimination and instills a sense of entitlement to the perpetrators.
Read more studies on the detrimental effects of racist mascots:
-Why Educators Can’t Ignore Indian Mascots
-The Harmful Psychological Effects of Washington’s Redskins Mascot
-Deculturalization of Indigenous Mascots in U.S. Sports Culture
-Of Warrior Chiefs and Indian Princesses: The Psychological Consequences of American Indian Mascots
-The Truth About American Indian Mascots
Over 1,400 professional, collegiate and high school teams have already changed their damaging names and mascots. The NBA’s Golden State Warriors removed all Native American imagery in 1971. Over 20 colleges and universities have changed their mascots, including the University of North Dakota as recently as 2012. More than 25 high schools in America have changed their name from the R*dskins in the past 25 years.
Read about more team changes.
While the R*dskins and Cleveland's Chief Wahoo are particularly abhorrent, any appropriation of American Indian names, images, culture, religion and belief systems by nonindigenous people is discriminatory, is not desired by American Indian people and is certainly not regarded as an act of honor. They should be changed. No other race or class of people experiences the degree of racism embedded in the inherited use of Indian mascots. We are all equals and the use of mascots is illegal and harmful and must change. The thousands of schools and professional teams that have changed their mascot names and images enjoy their new non hurtful mascot just as much as the old one founded on the history of discrimination against Indigenous people.
Click here for a complete list of those who support the R*dskins name change.
Read our flyer on the Washington Football Team.
