No More Cowboys vs. Indians NFL

 

Since 1960 the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington NFL team have enjoyed a rivalry that Sports Illustrated has called “one of the greatest in sports.” Now, Native American “Not Your Mascot” activists are speaking back to the NFL and its outdated “Cowboys and Indians” show.

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This Sunday, as Dallas faces off against the Washington NFL team in their vaunted “Cowboys vs Indians” rivalry, Native people once again gather outside the stadium to protest the $1.7 billion franchise that markets an ethnic slur referring to either as owner Dan Snyder claims their skin color or as Baxter Holmes, Tulalip tribal member claimed in the title of his Esquire article, “A Redskin is the Scalped Head of a Native American, Sold, Like a Pelt, for Cash.”

 

I also wonder if Matthew McConaughey, Hollywood star, Texan, life-long Redsk*ns fan, and personal friend of Dan Snyder will be in attendance. In GQ magazine last year, he claimed that he chose the Washington team over the Dallas Cowboys because since he was, “4 years old, watching Westerns, I always rooted for the Indians.”

Will he be rooting for the “Indians” as they stand outside the stadium and protest being mascotted for profit by a billionaire?

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A study released earlier this year by the University at Buffalo showed that the stereotypes mascots promote are nearly entirely negative,and that the practice of mascotry against any ethnicity increases negative stereotyping of all groups.

In another study cited by the American Psychological Association in their 2006 call to retire all Native American mascots, Dr. Stephanie Fryberg measured the self-esteem of Native youth before and after exposure and found a measurable negative effect. Native youth that claimed to be okay with Native mascots actually had the greatest reductions in self-esteem. This suggests they are expending energy compensating for the negative blow mascotting does to their self-image.

Native youth are also the most vulnerable population in the country. They have the highest rates of suicide and lowest graduation rates of any group bar none. This added burden, which is strictly for entertainment purposes. particularly when it is in their schools is completely unnecessary and irresponsible.

Native people are mascotted to a degree no other group in the country experiences. There are nearly 2,000 high schools in the country that still have Native mascots. Imagine if there were a comparable number of African American mascots? The black community is about 10 times the size of the Native American population. That would mean 20,000 high schools with African American mascots. What would that mean to the black community and add to their plate the necessity to educate the public and to fight the resulting stereotypes and animosity perpetuated by such mascots? Can you imagine mascotting Martin Luther King, Jr? Or Harriet Tubman? What would that look like and how would that hurt black youth? Ask yourself why no other ethinic group is mascotted at that scale Native Americans are? It’s because we know it is wrong and other groups are large enough to be fight back.

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The U.S. census found that nearly 80% of all Native Americans live off the reservation, mainly due to lack of economic opportunities. And in the larger U.S. population, Native Americans find themselves a minority amongst minorities in their own homeland.

Native youth and families face the pigeonholing and stereotypes mascots promote alone without a larger community to insulate them. Left alone to educate and uplift sometimes thousands of other students and their families. Who has the time for that? Shouldn’t Native families’ focus by on their own children, soccer practice, and homework?

 

Often Native American concerns about mascotting to the exclusion of every other kind of portrayal in the media are brushed off by comparisons to the “Fighting Irish” and the “Vikings.” But the comparison would only work if that were only European Americans portrayed as Vikings or small leprechauns. Imagine a world where the only time you ever saw a white man was as a Viking or Leprechaun. A world where a modern white family was never depicted on a tv show, where a white face was never seen reading the news, or a white man was never cast as the hero saving the world in a Hollywood blockbuster. In that world, the first thing anyone would asked a white man was “where’s your horned helmet?” or “your longboat?” — imagine that world for a moment. That is the world Native people actually live in. We want more. Change the Name NFL and yes, we are Not Your Mascots.

Photo:Facebook/Robert Caldwell