Bravo to the young people of Hall High School, I say.
All you need to do to see how wrong and ahistorical those Redmen mascots are is plug a few other races and nationalities into them.
Hugh Blumenfeld did it best with his Talking Hypothetical National Pasttime Blues, about a game between the Detroit Negroes and the New York Jews. If anything, Hugh’s images are not jarring enough and not sufficiently locked into an unpleasant role assigned to them by an old power structure. It really should be the Atlanta Slaves. The insignia would be a freshly picked puff of cotton. How many of today’s black athletes would play for that team?
People are so comfortable saying, “Our mascot is an Indian.”
Really? Your “mascot?” Try it a few other ways. “Our mascot is a Puerto Rican.” “Our mascot is a Jew.” “Our mascot is a Chinaman.” “Our mascot is a black woman.” Uh-uh.
One Native American intramural team called itself “The Fighting Whities.” In the wake of the Jeremiah Wright controversy, can you imagine the uproar over an all-black team called the The Whiteys, with an insignia depicting a porcine white man, smoking a cigar and wearing a business suit?
I don’t mean to go on.
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23 Responses to The Hall High School People Who Fought Really Hard When We Took Their Land Away
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You make your point quite well, but just to be a contrarian there are many colleges that use humans or representatives thereof as mascots that don’t seem to induce cringing. My undergrad, WPI, refers to its sports team as the “Engineers” as do RPI and MIT. George Washington University in DC refers to its sports team as the colonials. Harvard’s mascot is John Harvard and GWU uses Big George.
You don’t see rallies or op-eds by Pratt & Whitney engineers claiming they are being dehumanized by being used as a sports name. The Daughters of the American Revolution don’t seem have condemned GWU for their use of colonials. So why should Native Americans be offended by the use of their culture and symbols in the use of sports? It seems to me the usage can be done in a way to honor and show pride as much as it is (or might claim to be) perpetuating stereotypes.
Quick correction Matt, the mascot for MIT is the beaver because beavers are nature’s engineer. Their mascot is not a human engineer sitting at a workstation running AutoCAD.
I guess to be totally correct WPI’s mascot is a goat, although they do not refer to the team as the goats. My presumption was that by calling the teams “engineers” the founders had intended to invoke some kind of class of person. Certainly the person who named the WPI team didn’t intend for engineer to invoke the imagery of a goat. But I can see how the beaver thing might pass.
My ethnic make-up is New English, and I’m a big NY Yankee fan. I admit I’d not like a change of name to the New York Jews, but not necessarily because it would be offensive to them. Ditto, the New York Black Women. Irish-Americans not my favorite hyphenated-American group, but I’m a fan of the Boston Celtics. It might be the case that the fact we don’t have Jewish, Black or Chines mascots may be reflective of our relative admiration of aboriginal martial culture.
If Hall wants to ditch its mascot, it’s fine; silly but fine.
My old HS were the Warriors also. We identified with the bravery and respect associated with proud native American fighters. It had nothing to do with “mascots.” Instead of the “NY Jews” compare to other fighting groups throughout history to determine if we held native American warriors up to ridicule: cossacks, ninjas, hassassins, bizerkers (sp?), etc.
The generations to follow those “proud native American fighters” have been badly screwed over by the U.S. government, which even tried to commit genocide more than once. Why not honor those folks by insisting they get their treaties re-instated, and reparations paid. Don’t make a mockery of their ancestors by using their unique history as our own. Our history with American Indians is incredibly shameful.
Right, I think it’s less about the mascot than who’s using it. For instance, I’m fairly sure Irish folks would feel a lot differently about a team called The London Celtics than they do about the Boston Celtics.
Likewise, I’m sure a lot of Jewish folks would love it if New York Yankees had a team called the Fighting Maccabeeans, but would feel a lot differently about the Cairo Rebel Jews.
we don’t have Jewish, Black or Chinese
—————————————-
I can easily imagine victim-status-claiming pressure groups making the argument that the fact that we don’t name schools/teams after them is itself -ite, -ist, or -phobic. Let me illustrate with my own mild prejudice; I’d not appreciate it if the New York Giants were to become the New York Gays.
But why not? Following the precedent of naming teams after First Nation peoples whom we (or rather our forefathers) tried to eliminate but now admire for their bravery, why NOT have a team called The Gays? Surely there are those who would eliminate THAT “tribe,” and others who admire THAT minority’s spunk!
Straights vs Gays. Didn’t ‘The Warriors’ movie have a gay gang? Or was that the Village People?
Just think of the costume — excuse me — uniform possibilities!
Colin, what about situations in which a tribe appreciates the attention provided by the name of a mascot?
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500290_162-792345.html
Would you step in and tell Florida State that it needs a new name for its mascot? Do you think that you (or anyone else) even has standing to do so?
Given the club and neighorhood origination of sports in the US and many countries the Negroes vs Jews is not far from the historical roots. Or WWE monikers like Chief Jay Strongbow.
Someday Jonathan Husky will be a symbol of an oppressed species and an example of man’s insensitivity to the animal kingdom.
Meanwhile, Alcorn State guys are still the Braves, but the mascot was changed to a bird, specifically a “bravehawk.” Thinking of them today because the NYTimes reports that the “historically black university” has recently hired a white football coach. The monitors of politically correct thought must be blowing fuses analyzing the Alcorn State data input.
Dressing up like an Indian is offensive. It’s always been offensive, even though schools across the country continue to make little children dress up “like” Indians on Thanksgiving. No one tells kids to wear blackface for Martin Luther King Day but for some reason this is seen as acceptable. And for those who say that mascots of Native Americans focus on “positive” aspects of stereotypes– the noble savage view is just as incendiary as the negative views. Your imaginary teams of The Jews could have dollar signs on their tshirts and The Blacks could be promoted as natural athletes but it wouldn’t make it appropriate. Mascots are animals If you want to truly appreciate the gifts the various Indian cultures have given, volunteer on an Indian Reservation, donate to Red Cloud Indian School, do something about the massive levels of sexual assault faced by Native women in this country. A basketball game isn’t helping them, and it certainly isn’t teaching young people to respect their heritage.
I find this all such a waste of time. What lesson can possibly be learned by these Hall High students? Dressing up on Thanksgiving shouldn’t even be considered as an analogy. Isn’t it historically correct that we celebrated the first harvest with the Indians. Children dress up as Pilgrims and Indians to help learn the history of this important day. What is the harm with this?
I have always considered these mascots to be a sign of bravery….a compliment to the natives of our country.
Elizabeth Warren’s on the warpath
She’s 1/32 Cherokee just do the math
This far from right
She’s totally white
On election night I hope she’s taking a bath
Syracuse has the best team name: the Orange.
No humans or animals harmed. Gender neutral. The mascot is Otto the Orange a metrosexual fruit of indeterminate sexuality.
Everyone’s happy.
…unless you’re Irish.
Snap!
Interesting census factoids released this week.
Non-Hispanic Whites will make up less than 50% of births this decade. The tipping point was reached in 2010-11. White Males will make up less than 25% of births. Minorities, including women, will make up over 75% of births. (More people to complain. Just what we need
)
If current trends continue then the centennial of the Civil Rights Era will also celebrate Asians surpassing African Americans as the 3rd largest racial or ethnic group behind non-white Hispanics, Hispanics and Asians.
The most popular High School team mascots in 2050 will be the Klansmen and Rebels. White men won’t be offended.
Posts die in Mr McEnroe’s delete bin
A To Wit battle I simply can’t win
No censorship’s but a dream
But only for the libral team
‘Tis so easy getting under you know who’s skin
My impression from news accounts is that Hall will still be using warriors but is looking for a new picture. Maybe infantry shooting unarmed civilians. Sorry but I find anything that glorifies killing and destruction as offensive. What are we inculcating into our young people’s minds? We need a military to defend our shores its true, but the necessity of performing this dirty deed should not be glorified but should have a touch of uneasy soul searching.
Mascots can represent strong emotions to overcome that which impedes our progress to perfection yet it should not be conjoined with hate but in the mutual spirit of sportsmanship from which all sides benefit and even the loser is elevated by a positive example in the end. In the end both winner and loser should realize that despite the outcome of this conflict, the tables could be turned on another stage. Pride and humiliation becomes maturity.