Schools, Sports, & Stereotypes: Why Native American Mascots are Unacceptable in 2023

March is upon us, along with its basketball madness. For many, it’s a time of frantically filling out brackets and betting on sports expertise. For the less athletically-minded, it’s a time to marvel at how wild some athletic mascots really are. This year’s tournament is no exception — featuring critters like Texas Christian University’s SuperFrog, Kansas State University’s Willie the Wildcat, and Providence College’s Friar Dom.?

The 2023 National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA) Tournament also includes the University of Illinois’ Fighting Illini. From 1926 to 2007, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign heralded Chief Illiniwek as their mascot. Meant to represent local indigenous tribes, the mascot consisted of a student dressed in deerskin clothing and a feathered headdress.?

Native Mascots?

In 2005, Chief Illiniwek was included in a list of 18 mascots which the NCAA formally condemned for including “hostile or abusive references” to indigenous peoples. The mascot was retired in 2007 but has yet to be replaced. The University of Illinois remains one of the only college teams without an official mascot.?

But while the University of Illinois has shed its Chief, the use of Native Americans as mascots is alive and well across the country. In addition to universities and professional sports teams, Native American nicknames and imagery are used in many K-12 schools.?

According to a November 2022 study by the National Congress of American Indians , almost 2,000 schools in 970 school districts use Native “themed” mascots — including names like the Braves, Indians, Warriors, Chiefs, and even R*dsk*ns. While some communities have opted to replace these icons, others rally behind them, believing that the mascots honor Native Americans and represent a rich cultural heritage.

Beyond intention or personal beliefs, however, research has revealed that exposure to such mascots yields detrimental psychosocial effects.?

What’s the Harm?

In 2005, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued a formal resolution urging educators to retire any Native American mascots. Since then, myriad studies have echoed the harmful effects that the existence of such mascots has on both Native and non-Native students.?

Native American students who were exposed to these mascots exhibited a drop in self-esteem and achievement-related aspirations. They also demonstrated a lessened sense of self and community worth . Even “neutral” Native American mascots (those not grossly characterized or associated with violence) have a negative psychosocial impact on Native students .?

Additionally, Native mascots may encourage non-Native students to engage in negative stereotyping and prejudice toward Native Americans. The experience of being stereotyped also significantly inhibits academic performance.?

The negative stereotyping and persistent portrayal of natives as caricatures also significantly hinder the non-Native ability to understand the modern Native American. As Justin De Leon,? Advisor at the KROC Institute for International Peace Studies explained :

[These mascots] depict groups of people in a fixed way, where there’s no present, there’s no future. They depict people in a way that’s quite sanitized… it’s not offering a complex rendering of those peoples. All of those romanticized depictions of native people exclude a current present for Native people.

Similarly, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported :

[These mascots] mock and trivialize Native American religion and culture. Even those that purport to be positive are romantic stereotypes that give a distorted view of the past. These false portrayals prevent non-Native Americans from understanding the true historical and cultural experiences of American Indians. These references may encourage interest in mythical "Indians" created by the dominant culture, but they block genuine understanding of contemporary Native people as fellow Americans.

We’ve known for a while that media portrayals of certain people have a serious impact on the way we perceive those groups. So what’s being done about it??

Fighting Back

Several advocacy groups have rallied around the cause. Organizations like Not Your Mascot , Change the Mascot , Not In Our Honor , and others have held demonstrations and even filed lawsuits against athletic organizations that use Native “themed” nicknames and logos.

Additionally, the last two decades have seen significant? progress toward abolishing native mascots.?

In 2001, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission released a statement condemning “the use of Native American images and nicknames as sports symbols.” The statement noted that:

These references, whether mascots and their performances, logos, or names, are disrespectful and offensive to American Indians and others who are offended by such stereotyping. They are particularly inappropriate and insensitive in light of the long history of forced assimilation that American Indian people have endured in this country.

Following the 2005 APA resolution, the NCAA released a statement formally “object[ing] to institutions using racial/ethnic/national origin references in their intercollegiate athletics programs.”

After the racial justice movements of 2020, the NFL team in Washington, D.C. faced pressure from both the public and major sponsors to remove the franchise’s R*dsk*ns name. In 2020, the team announced that the team name would change; in 2022, they became the Washington Commanders. The MLB Cleveland Indians similarly became the Cleveland Guardians in 2021.?

Additionally, several states have passed legislation on schools using Native mascots. Bills like the California Racial Mascot Act of 2017 and the New York Dignity for All Students Act of 2023 prohibit schools from using racial mascots, nicknames, or imagery.?

Apart from alma maters and halftime chants, it’s worth noting that the representation of Native Americans has implications far beyond football fields or baseball stadiums. As Native activist Suzan Shown Harjo explained :

If we don’t have accurate representation of us [in pop culture], we’re not going to have good public policy made for us, because policymakers don’t make good public policy for cartoons and mascots.?

For many, these sports teams have immense sentimental value — the logos and mascots represent the organizations they’ve supported all their lives. However, it’s worth examining what we value and why. What does it mean to have millions of viewers tune in to watch the Yankees fight the Indians?

As with all issues in DEI , Native representation is about far more than being politically correct — it’s about treating our fellow humans with the respect and dignity they deserve.?

Prepared by Cassidy Mayo