madam-professor

Despite the pejorative term of Redskins, and the widespread belief of how blatantly offensive it is, not much has been done to change the name. Churchill compares this to the NFL adopting a team called the “Niggers”. This comparison creates a deep understanding of how team names related to Native Americans has racial and colonialist underpinnings. Although some team names do not carry or imply such crude racism as the Redskins, teams names such as the Braves, Chiefs, or Indians are still racist because it reduces Native Americans to stereotypes, and cultural appropriation that occurs because of that. Churchill demonstrates that the depictions of the Native Americans are stereotypical, such as the Cleveland Indians, whose mascot is Indian with a headband, a feather, and overly large teeth. These images are the face of dehumanization because they reduce the Indians to a trope or joke. The problem with such mascots is that it humanizes the experience of Native Americans. The smiling Indian would not be smiling if it represented the systematic extermination of Indians. Nor would it be smiling if it had to represent the forced sterilization of Indian women to destroy an entire culture. The reduction of Native Americans to mascots and tropes devastates and insults a community that has been fighting colonialism for 500 years. Churchill also is rightfully upset at the behavior and cultural exploitation that brings these people joy. Dressing up in a manner that may not be consistent with any particular tribe to celebrate a sporting event. In layman’s terms, it would be similar to dressing in stereotypical clothing of a Mexican to celebrate a basketball game. It is offensive to entire ethnicity to reduce them to stereotypes. Moreover, it is also wrong to use their “culture” for your celebration, which means that your fun is that their expense. The entire aspect of having a Native American as a mascot implies a superiority. It symbolizes ownership and control of an entire culture as a moniker of fun and celebration. Altogether, the use of Native American mascots is blatant racism because of the stereotypes that sports teams uphold. The smiling Indian removes the hardship that Indians have had to endure at the hands of White colonialists. Furthermore, it makes it appropriate to use someone’s culture for your festive purposes. This destroys the cultural traditions and uses them as a celebratory function for something as unrelated as football. Churchill’s most brilliant point is that if it were related to Whites, something like Hanover Honkies would not fly.x