American Psychological Association calls for retirement of American Indian

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The American Psychological Association called Wednesday for "the immediate retirement of all American Indian mascots, symbols, images and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams and organizations."

The association's call comes as UND prepares to file a second appeal to the NCAA, which has ruled that the university cannot use its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo during NCAA postseason tournaments, and that it can't host postseason tournaments as long as it keeps the nickname.

The psychological association's Council of Representatives approved the call based on what it described as a growing body of social science literature that shows the harmful effects of racial stereotyping and inaccurate racial portrayals, according to a statement. The literature shows "particularly harmful effects of American Indian sports mascots on the social identity development and self-esteem of American Indian young people," the association said.

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http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/12947613.htm

to making the University of FL change its name and its symbol, Osceola. They said that the University was honoring their tribe and the memory of their great leader.

I know that the Lakota people I know don't like the term "Souix" because it is a French version of a perjorative given them by the Crow, I believe. So they could very justifiably have issues. However, I wonder about other tribes-shouldn't they be consulted?

make "souixie and the banshees" translate to?

The term Sioux is itself derived from an Ojibwe term, nadouessioux , which means “little snakes” or “enemies.” (http://faculty.normandale.edu/~physics/Hollabaugh/Lakota/BriefHistory.htm)

not the University of Florida.

There was a piece on NPR about this about a month ago, and I'd forgotten the name of the university.

BTW, I have seen both spellings of Sioux around. Is one archaic ?

The focus is on "the immediate retirement of all American Indian mascots, symbols, images and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams and organizations."

As for town names, for example, Broken Arrow (OK) actually reperesents peace.

If "Sioux" is considered a pejorative (which is news to me), then let the Sioux decide whether the place name should be changed.

get any type of money from Florida State, or from sale of the gear, or do they get any money in sales in gift shops that might be stimulated by Florida State using their name?

Again, not accusing, just trying to learn the details before i decide on the issue.

I think all Native American names and symbols should be banned as mascots or team logos, too. Looks too much like the old minstrel shows to me. How can any people expect to be taken seriously when their very identity is made in a cartoon-like caricature? Even well-meaning ones are still creating stereotypes.

Look how much trouble America has had overcoming the racial stereotypes of African Americans. It's at the point, still, where racial profiling is accepted by some, and people like Bill Bennet can largely get away with implying that black people are disproportionately criminal compared to others. And that's not talking about the more subtle stereotypes, like black students being disciplined more harshly than whites, or undereducated, or denied jobs because they have to overcome a stereotype that most blacks are just lazy, or less intelligent. It isn't just southern rednecks with confederate flags that make racist assumptions--hell, even Bill Cosby does it, and he's black.

These stereotypes, even when not mean, lock in public perceptions that are damaging to the psyche of the stereotyped, and to the overall welfare of society. IMHO. Glad to see people finally standing up to them.

As a guest ot The Tiger Brothers(look them up), I can say that those gentlemen have a nose for bidness, hence their objection to the changing of the name and mascot.

Please make of that what you will.

If the symbols (and attendant fan behavior) are respectful, and don't reinforce negative stereotypes, I'll have no problem with them.

At least for those that are respectful.

Cleveland indians aren't too high on our list because of their choice of the way they make their mascot.

but I think the monotonous Seminole chop is offensive. The mascot, Chief Osceola, etc., honors the tribe...although I have read that the feathered spear and horse are not really Seminole in style.

THE "REDSKINS" or just plain "SKINS"

The Redskins
Fight Song

Hail to the
Redskins!
Hail Victory!
Braves on the warpath,
Fight for old D.C.!

Run or pass and score
We want a lot more!
Beat 'em Swamp 'em Touchdown
Let the points soar!

Fight on, Fight on,
Til you have won,
Sons of Wash-ing-ton!
Rah! Rah! Rah!







THEIR URL http://www.redskins.com/

I don't think to use the actual name of a tribe is, but "redskin"? Might as well say we will have a basketball team called "the N words"

Not good at all.

rednecks or ...


You should see the town I live in. The mascot of the local high school is "Indians" and the marching band is "Band of Indians" and yet, some folks are quite racist around here ...always made me sort of sick to my stomach.

The funniest response to this I've ever seen was the Fightin' Whiteys intramural basketball team at UNC.

Here's the story:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/03/11/sports1543EST0390.DTL

And here's the cafepress shop!

http://www.cafepress.com/fightinwhite/106

They're Osage and consider most of the anti-mascot protests to be the work of a very small group of activists. Most Native Americans seem to see this as a non-issue.

Hochunk. LOL. Somehow it describes some of their female patrons perfectly.

Once on a return trip from the Twin Cities. Lost $30 playing blackjack. Then drove back to the east coast, feeling stupid.

or maybe Hotcak (pronounced as in eastern european pronunciation maybe?) which is the tribe's self-name. They are more commonly known as Winnebago. http://ho-chunknation.com/heritage/culture_history_page.htm

So why should they rename their casino?

How much sense does that make?

at a high school in Bellingham, WA. with the mascot wearing feathered headdress, of course. Finally maybe 10 or so years ago people started making enough of a fuss about it, but it was a big controversy, unbelievably enough. Raiders is bad enough, but "Red" Raiders??

Isn't Texas Tech called the "Red" Raiders"?

But their mascot is a redheaded Yosemite Sam-type character.

Scarlet? Crimson? Candy Apple?

Well, anyway- Guns Up!

"red face" mascots after cops stop beating Indians to death in reservation states? How about that?

Our local Indians might refer to themselves as 'Skins'.

Notice I say "Our" local Indians as if we owned them. I guess in a way we white eyes do "Own" them after all we murdered many of them we defeated them, humiliated them, drove them to reservations, stole their heritage and their culture and their language and now we continue to heap shame upon them by making cartoon characters on the side of sports helmet, hats, shirts and anything else we can draw on.

My sister in law is an Indian. But first of all she is a person.

Rant over.

By the way I think Oceola was half white (A half breed as are my nieces) another derogatory insult. He too as were many Indian warriors was said to have been murdered at Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island and to add insult to injury it is further claimed his skull was stolen from his grave there at the Fort.

180

It's offensive and suggests that people of mixed races are somehow inferior to those of "one pure race". It smacks of Nazi racial purity ideals and should be expunged from the English language...I rank it right up there with the N word. There is NOTHING insulting about a person being of two racial backgrounds.

and seldom heard around here.

180

these people and their sick mascots can go to hell, their tradition means nothing. If they can see why it's wrong, too damn bad.

If the Sioux are not accepting of UND's use of their name, fine. But as with the Seminoles, I think it should be up to the tribe.

But as for gross perjoratives (redskins), the use of the name of a particular Native American (Blackhawks), or the use of mocking or stereotyping logos (Cleveland Indians), there just not acceptable.

Ottawa, Toronto, I think Winnipeg & Quebec - even the word Canada some say has its roots in names for thing before Europeans arrived. Doesn't mean we didn't treat people horribly and stole their land and resources and then pushed them off treaties.

But yes - please - rename the teams or ask for a re-naming ceremony or something.

In Illinois this is a hot issue. the U of I teams are the "Fightin' Illini", named for a tribe for which the state is named. The real problem is "Chief Illiniwek", who dances during halftime. I really find it's an issue I can't get too upset about, but then, I went to ISU (Go 'birds!). My folks and sister went to the U of I, and insist that the dance is authentic and the costume is made by Native Americans. Either way, the NCAA wants it to stop.

Me, I'll worry about this two or three days after world peace kicks in and the hungry folks are complainin' of being too full. But that's me.

we'd all still be bacteria. Even nature can handle more than one problem at a time. So if we are "smarter than nature" we should be able to solve more than a few things.

10,000 years and we are destroying it. Though Kurt V. says that perhaps the planet's immune system is fighting back against us humans (trying to expell us) and she will win in the end.

and own them - don't we think the native american groups should have ownership of their 1)likeness 2) charge a fee if they dam well feel like it - and have the option of sponsoring kids teams with names & giving them elder talks?