Rally against racist sports mascots.
Happy Tuesday! The Kansas City Chiefs are headed to the Super Bowl, and along with it comes a national stage for appropriation and disrespect to Indigenous communities. The organization IllumiNative joins us today with some easy ways to rally for change.
Are you signed up for our 28 Days of Black HIstory exhibition yet? It's truly something special. Camille Bethune-Brown and Shanaé Burch have curated an incredible series, and I've had the privilege to enjoy it alone for the past month. I can't wait for ya'll to see it unfold: 28daysofblackhistory.com.
Also I forgot to add this yesterday – we have a new podcast episode out! Listen to me chat with the inspiring Tyree Boyd-Pates about what it means to curate Black History in this moment (iTunes and Spotify).
Thank you all for your support. This newsletter is made possible by our subscribers. Consider subscribing for $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community.
Nicole
TAKE ACTION
Support and uplift Indigenous organizers who are impacted by racist sports mascots. Ahead of the Super Bowl, sign Not in Our Honor’s petition.
Share resources from the IllumiNative campaign and encourage sports teams to change their names: illuminatives.org/change-the-name
Educate friends, family, and loved ones on the true history of Native mascots, their harm, and why they need to end.
GET EDUCATED
By IllumiNative
Using Native people as mascots is unacceptable. Racist sports mascots like the Chiefs, used by the Kansas City football team, should be halted.
Fans of the Kansas City team can often be seen wearing “war paint” and “headdresses” in addition to other caricatured aspects of Native cultures. While these acts were recently banned in the home field of Kansas City, Arrowhead Stadium, all bets are off as the team and fans travel to Tampa Bay. The team itself continues to use and encourage the “tomahawk chop,” a gesture widely used to mock Native peoples, most recently in the AFC Championship.
The images, gestures, and behavior connected to Native mascots negatively impact Native peoples, particularly Native youth. Research shows that these images and actions contribute to low self-esteem, increased rates of depression, increased rates of self-harm and substance abuse, and increased discrimination in schools against Native youth.
For the second year in a row, the Kansas City Chiefs will make an appearance in the Super Bowl. For many years, Native peoples have spoken out and protested against the Kansas City team because their name, history, and fan behavior is racist. Just this week, just outside Kansas City limits, the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas voted to update the district’s non-discrimination policy – effectively banning the four schools that use a Native mascot.
While many celebrated the recent change of the Washington Football Team, who for decades used a dictionary-defined racial slur as their team name, studies have shown all Native mascots are harmful. The largest study to date on the issue of mascots, “Unpacking the Mascot Debate,” found that:
65% of Native peoples surveyed are offended by the use of the “tomahawk chop” by fans
70% are offended by the wearing of headdresses by fans
65% of Native youth are highly offended and opposed to Native mascots.
In August 2020, the Kansas City team announced they would ban red face and headdresses at their home stadium, but fans continue to use the “tomahawk chop.” Furthermore, this ban won’t apply when they travel to Tampa for the Super Bowl.
Reclaiming Native Truth, research co-led by IllumiNative founder Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee), found invisibility is one of the most significant barriers impacting Native peoples today. Research tells us that 72% of Americans surveyed said they know little to nothing about Native Americans. For many Americans, the only representation that they see of Native peoples comes from racist mascots, which are inaccurate, disrespectful, and a mockery of Native cultures and traditions. Read more and take action on the website.
These mascots enforce ideas of white supremacy by stereotyping Native people as savages. Dr. Stephanie Fryberg (Tulalip), a leading researcher on discrimination and mascots, at the University of Michigan, has discussed how this racist imagery impacts peoples’ psychology (Politico). She further notes that the only group that “benefits” from using these mascots are white Americans. Research shows that white people are the only group to demonstrate higher rates of self-esteem when viewing stereotypical Native mascots.
These mascots aren’t just dehumanizing. They’re rooted in white supremacist origin myths about the United States. For decades, Westerns depicted myths about this country’s founding, idolizing western settlers and showing Native peoples as violent and aggressive. These false narratives misconstrue Indigenous people as antagonists in the origin story of America. During games, fans echo these inaccurate narratives by “playing Indian.'' By dressing up in war paint and using war whoops, they reinforce the caricatures, and inaccurate depictions of Native cultures once used to justify the genocide committed against Native peoples. Bans or empty statements asking for fans not to participate are not effective in ending these traditions. It’s only by completely eliminating these mascots and names that we can mitigate these harms.
These stereotypes have real consequences for our community. Native people have the highest rates of murder by police. According to the National Sexual Violence Research Center, 45% of Native women are likely to experience both sexual and physical violence, compared to 20% of all women. Native youth have higher rates of suicide and depression. There is an epidemic of murdered and missing Native women in the country that has persisted for decades because dehumanization creates less empathy for and more othering of Native peoples. Read more about MMIW in a recent newsletter.
Ending racist mascots would help create a world where Native people are recognized as contemporary people with rich cultural traditions. There would be greater respect for our unique wisdom, harmonious relationship with the planet, and towering legacy of leadership. Achieving this goal is an essential step to ending white supremacy, for Indigenous people worldwide have been subject to genocide and erasure for centuries. We cannot advance in our struggle against racial injustice without healing these deep wounds.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Racist mascots increase negative stereotyping of Native people and create the false perception of Native people as aggressive.
65% of Native people are offended—not honored—by the use of Native mascots.
Native mascots and the fan behavior associated with the use of Native mascots impacts Native youth by lowering self-esteem, increasing rates of depression, increasing rates of self-harm and substance abuse, increasing discrimination in schools against Native students.
RELATED ISSUES
11/26/2020 | Support the land back movement.
12/17/2020 | Respect Hawaii’s sacred land.
6/25/2020 | Capitalize B in Black and I in Indigenous.
PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT
Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.
Subscribe on Patreon | Give one-time on PayPal | Venmo @nicoleacardoza