Native American mascot controversy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Native American mascot controversy - Essay Example A Mascot is an object, animal or person that represents an organization; for example; the Fuwa of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the Otto of Syracuse University. It is a symbol of the organization and is emblematic  of the organization’s good wishes. At the commencement of the twentieth century; universities and professional teams began to use images and words from the Native Americans as their mascot to represent their organizations. However, in the 1940s, the National Congress of American Indians launched a campaign aimed at eliminating the stereotypes towards Native Americans in the media especially in sports (Hylton, 2010). According to Goddard, the word ‘Redskin’ was used as an identifier by the respective communities in the early history. That is how the Native Americans differentiated the two racess. The word ‘redskin’ was first used in 1769 while Piankashawsand and Col. John Wilkins were negotiating. Native Americans often used the word in the 1800s whenever they negotiated with the French and later the Americans (Goddard, 2005). Washington’s DC Redskins were initially known as the Boston Braves in 1932 when the team was formed. It was the norm at this time to possess the same name for the teams whenever the football and the baseball shared the same stadium. The name was changed when they moved to Boston Red Sox home. The name was changed to Boston Redskins prior to moving back to Washington in 1933. Native American’s names and imagery used by this team started before 1933. In 1937, the team officially changed their name to the Washington Redskin when they moved to Washington, Dc (Nauright & Parrish, 2012). Since the Native America mascot is disrespectful and insulting to Native Americans, some schools and teams changed their mascots or names. Stanford University changed from â€Å"The Stanford Indian† to Stanford Cardinal. Syracuse University