Module 4: Native American Mascots

Grant Brennan

Arizona State University

OGL 350

Dr. Kermit Brown

September 27, 2021

 Introduction

Native-American-themed mascots have been prevalent across the United States. These

mascots are often used for schools or sports teams. This has always been hurtful and offensive to

Native-American people, but we are seeing a decrease in these mascots in the past 50 years.

There is still a large operating number of schools with these Native “themed” mascots, which as

of October of 2020 was 1922 schools. There is a growing movement of people looking to replace

these mascots. Schools and sports teams should officially retire the Native American imagery. It

is distasteful at best and offensive at worst.

Background

There has been a long-time attempt to replace these mascots with more suitable substitute. In

1968, the NCAI launched a formal resolution against the misrepresentation of Native American

people as mascots. This resolution has been greatly successful in the 53 years it has been active.

Since 1970, two-thirds of all Native “themed” mascots have been changed due to the education

from the NCAI. This has caused the NCAI to create a database of all the remaining schools with

these mascots so as to educate them. Though the NCAI has involved litigation in their attempt to

change public opinion, only 2 of the 2000 cases of mascot changes have involved active

litigation.

More recently, due to the unfortunate injustice in our country against George Floyd, there has

been a renewed outlook on racially motivated issues. This has also applied in the case of Native

American mascots, with over 57 schools retiring their mascots in 2020 alone. Following this,

schools and organizations have been more willing to look into their own mascots, with the

Cleveland baseball team previously known as “Indians” to rebrand to the “Guardians” in the
coming 2022 year. Suzan Shown Harjo, a longtime activist for the NCAI, believes that their

largest victories are those of sports teams changing because it reflects a change in popular

culture. The domino effect will change the schools beneath it once sports teams have taken a

stance.

Evaluation of the Case

The reeducation of the American school and organizational systems that employ Native

“themed” mascots has been steadily working to decrease the number of mascots drastically since

1970. This has been working incredibly well, leading to large organizations like the team

formerly known as the Washington Redskins changing their name to the Washington Football

team. This was a large milestone because it was a popular football team finally relenting to

changing public opinion. With just over 1000 school districts remaining with a Native “themed”

mascot, it is evident that the work done by the NCAI is directly impacting the mascots we have

today. Due to this fact, the NCAI should continue in its battle against offensive mascots.

There are three different levels of organizations that the NCAI focuses on: K-12, State,

and Professional Sports. The professional level is where the main focus of change for the NCAI

because of the previously stated Domino Effect that is believed to happen. Due to the recent

success in the changing of the Washington Football Team and Cleveland Guardians, it is evident

that these practices are working. After years of outside pressure, these organizations have caved

to the pressure of the changing, more educated, public opinion. Given this information, it is only

a matter of time before the other organizations follow suit.

Proposed Solution/Changes
The NCAI should continue to press on in their battle against mascots and those that employ these

mascots should attempt to replace them. This is the best course of action because it stops to

offense towards native people with only minor repercussions to the team or school. Though there

has been pushback by multiple organizations against the changes, namely the Washington

Football Team’s previous stance, the continued efforts of the NCAI have effectively influenced

the change of many organizations. The fact that organizations that have previously been

adamantly against the movement have conceded demonstrates the inevitability of the mascots

changing.

One change the movement could make in order to reach more people would be the increased

visibility of the issue. The more people to know about the offensive nature of these mascots, the

more likely they are to support a change. While it is essential to educate the school districts and

schools that have these mascots, it could be beneficial for the general public to be informed as

well. The NCAI’s work to educate these schools has been successful, so transferring this success

to the public could lead to an easier change to the mascots. Overall, the NCAI’s efforts have

been well placed, but with more resources they could expand to educate more people.

Recommendations

Some strategies for accomplishing the goal of changing offensive mascots include that of

education, pressure, and litigation. Though each of these has a place within this movement, I feel

that due to litigations minimal use it should be examined less. Their case against the Washington

Football Team was 17 years long, but it was unsuccessful. Though they had a valid case against

the team, the case was time and money consuming. The database they have created is helpful in

determining where to focus their resources. The NCAI’s education of schools and school districts
with Native “themed” mascots has been extremely successful, so the NCAI should continue to

work to their strengths. Though the public pressure option is more time consuming than even

litigation, it is much less costly and helpful in finding activists that support the movement to

remove mascots. Once the opinion has changed due to the increased education by the NCAI,

organizations feel as though they have more pressure to appease the public. Overall, I feel as

though the continued efforts of the NCAI will eventually lead to a society with no native

“themed” mascots.
 References
Retiring “Indian” School Mascots: Informing, Tracking, and Fueling a Growing National
Movement. (2021). Retrieved 28 September 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1LfF5xysOOA&ab_channel=NationalCongressofAmericanIndians

www.browsermedia.com, B. (2021). Ending the Era of Harmful “Indian” Mascots | NCAI.

Retrieved 28 September 2021, from https://www.ncai.org/proudtobe