It’s not from now that sports teams use Aboriginal people as their mascots and logos, they really don’t care for honoring or representing them in a good way, they use stereotypes as much as they want. But we are in 2017 and we, as society, should not accept it.
The teams use names that wasn’t even created by the Native (Eskimos, Redskins) that are also pejorative to them, stereotyping them. The Washington Redskins only changed their name from “The Braves” to “Redskins” because they moved to Boston, they didn’t think about honoring the Aboriginal people. The term Redskin is also considered offensive to them and many people, including some fans of the team, think they should change it. In an interview the Redskin’s president said: “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.” That show us how much they care for the Natives, this “NEVER” speaks for itself, they are only looking for the money. If we look back to history between the Europeans and the Native Americans and remember the way they have been treated, how they lost their lands, how they became invisible for the society or simply savages; this teams don’t help them. They only make the society’s vision about them worst.
However, some teams, like the Chicago Blackhawks, are successful in honoring the Natives and their history. They brought their trophy to the American Indian Centre, the founder was an Indian and the name also honors a division that fought in World War I called “The Blackhawk Division”. But is that enough? Shouldn’t they try to wipe this image that Indians are savages and that they are different from “normal” people? Yes, they should. But they won’t. Why? Simply because that brings money for them. They can use it as their trademark and create their “own style”. Unfortunately, that’s how the world works.
References
Shapira, Ian. “A brief history of the word ‘redskin’ and how it became a source of controversy.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 May 2016
“The Facts.” Redskins Facts
King, Thomas. “The Totem”
“A brief history: Chicago Blackhawks.” NHL.com, 8 Aug. 2010