NCAA mascot rule stings Florida State

[bullwark]

Racist Slurs Taint U.S. Sports

Aug. 13, 2004 -- The sports media spoke in a unified voice of praise in January when Joe Gibbs was named new coach of the National Football League's Washington Redskins.

Gibbs is a Hall of Fame coach who led the Washington franchise to three Super Bowl titles in the '80s and '90s. Many headlines enthused his return would mark a "New Era For the Redskins."

The paradox of that idea is striking: In the 21st century an NFL team is still known by an ethnic slur crafted during the nation's frontier days.

The term "Redskins" derives from an old, genocidal practice in this country of scalping Native Americans to earn a bounty. A bounty hunter could prove he had killed a native by turning in a scalp, which often were bloody and called "redskins." This bit of etymology was part of a July 2000 editorial in Maine's Portland Press Herald explaining why it banned the team name from its sports pages.

But in The Washington Post there were few questions raised about coupling the team's new era with a racist slur from an old era. This newspaper that serves the "capital of the free world" still prints that insult in bold headlines.

It may be true that stereotyping nonwhites is as American as apple pie, and such deeply ingrained cultural habits die hard, but the lack of public outrage at these continuing racial slurs is a bit surprising. After all, there's little debate that the use of people as mascots is, at best, humiliating.

As the American Jewish Committee noted in a 1998 report, "The use of mascots is a reflection of the limits of dehumanization our culture will allow."

The name of the D.C. NFL franchise is particularly egregious, but it is far from the lone offender among professional sports teams.

The Cleveland Indians and their "Chief Wahoo," is another, as are the Kansas City Chiefs and the Atlanta Braves. Universities, like North Dakota, Illinois and Florida State among others still sport Native American mascots.

But there is increasing opposition, as well. Other newspapers have banished Native symbols and logos from their pages. The Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska has banned the Redskins name and has stopped printing logos for professional and college sports teams that use or caricature Native American symbols. The Oregonian, the Minnesota St. Cloud Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Kansas City Star also limit publication of Native mascots and images in varying ways.

Many colleges and universities across the country have dropped their Native American mascots, and some schools, like the University of Minnesota, won't compete with out-of-conference schools that use Native American mascots, names or logos. Several public school systems, including those of Dallas and Los Angeles, also prohibit the use of such symbols.

Virtually every Native American organization has condemned the use of demeaning images or mascots. In 2003, the Native American Journalists Association urged news organizations to stop using sports mascots and nicknames that depict Native Americans by 2004.

Yet, many Americans seem to believe that their right to use these symbols in frivolous, casual ways is a matter of personal opinion. Had some reporter interrupted the Gibbs veneration fest with a question about the Redskin name, it would have been dismissed as so much political correctness.

Discard the stereotypes

The fight against Native American mascots and logos is a serious struggle to overturn the stereotypes and cultural assumptions that were forged in our racist past but still help determine the trajectories of our lives today.

And while more Americans are becoming aware of this struggle to rearrange our cultural iconography, resistance remains strong.

The offense of anti-black images like "Black Sambo," or anti-Latino ones like the "Frito Bandito" only recently have been made obvious to many Americans, and we still find it difficult to understand why Native Americans find sports symbols demeaning.

Like those Redskins fans who insist their team's name is an honorable tribute, partisans of mascots everywhere claim their devotion is bias-free.

Americans' denial of indigenous peoples' grievances is a product of our sordid role in their history. Americans stole their lands, destroyed their civilizations and damned near killed off all their people. That's a lot of baggage to carry; why not deny?

What I find mystifying, however, is the civil rights community's lack of attention to this issue. One would shudder to think what the NAACP would do with a sports team named the Chicago Jigaboos. We saw how angry many black groups became when the rapper Nelly announced he was marketing something called "Pimp Juice."

African Americans know the difficulty of holding America accountable for the errors of its past, so we should be leading the way in correcting the ongoing error of demeaning mascots.

That's why I was happy to see Bill Fletcher Jr. of TransAfrica Forum make the call for other black groups to get involved in the fight to change the name of the Washington Redskins. I join Fletcher in his call and expand it to retire all Native American mascots to the dustbin of discarded stereotypes.

[USFMikeB]

FSU may be working with their respective tribe on this, but that simply isn't the norm.  There have been stories for years regarding the use of American Indian names and imagery in sports, so this is nothing new.  In fact, that is probably what spurred FSU to the efforts they've made.  The reality is that some of the perceptions presented by the current uses are offensive to American Indians.

[DawgPound]

The NCAA really goofed up this time.  They should be spending their time and money cleaning up college sports and getting a pair and creating a I-A system to give football a true national champion.

Instead, they are playing PCU and wasting resources to do it.  My dad and I joked about the BCS schools breaking away from the NCAA(we both are diehard Buckeyes) and joining the NAIA to facilitate their sports cause the NCAA is really pissing everyone off.  You have this and the NIT situation and it's just getting worse and worse.

[TripleB]

FSU may be working with their respective tribe on this, but that simply isn't the norm.  There have been stories for years regarding the use of American Indian names and imagery in sports, so this is nothing new.  In fact, that is probably what spurred FSU to the efforts they've made.  The reality is that some of the perceptions presented by the current uses are offensive to American Indians.

And if they are truly offended by them, then they should be done away with but I think there should be more done like what the Florida Seminoles and FSU have worked out. Take the exposure and maybe use it to somehow help the Indians .........

[Brad]

Right.  This is not an across the board situation.  I am not very sensitive to this issue, I may have some personal growth to undergo - who knows...

But, to wipe out what is referred to as "stereotyping", is to wipe out history and dispense with reality.  The irony is the NCAA stereotypes all schools that use an indian mascot - regardless of the respect and reconciliation inherent in their partnership with the indian group (is "tribe" a good or bad word?).  The reality is that these logos bring about a reconciliation with the past that ultimately leads to a clearer understanding good or bad.  As with FSU, honoring with respect the fighting spirit and other traits may not be so bad for a country that carries guilt on several levels.

I am not American Indian, so yeah as the new civil rights people say, I have no way to understand and no voice to go along with my inherent ineptness, but I think this move by the NCAA extends beyond the issues they should be concerned with.

[DawgPound]

GO NCU(Northern Colorado University) AND YOUR INTRAMURAL FIGHTING WHITIES!!

[Brad]

Look out Bulls, you're next!!

PETA weighs in: The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Brand on Wednesday asking the NCAA to stop South Carolina and Jacksonville (Ala.) State from using the nickname Gamecocks.

The letter, a copy of which was given to USA TODAY by PETA, says Gamecocks "are named after the birds used in cockfighting, a hideous 'blood sport' that, like spousal abuse, bank robbery and driving while intoxicated, is illegal in both South Carolina and Alabama."

Said Feeney: "For once, I believe that PETA, at least on the level of logic, is correct. If the NCAA has to protect offended Native Americans ... by God, PETA ought to advocate for the protection of every organism in the animal kingdom."

USA Today Link

[Apis Bull]

PETA will next probably go after the schools that have live animal mascots.

[E.T.]

Exploring the ridiculousness of nicknames

Published August 10, 2005

Now that the NCAA is in the business of legislating against "hostile and abusive" nicknames, let them not stop with American Indians.

Let all of us have our say before the NCAA Can of Worms Committee.

And so . . .

I am an animal lover and am offended by South Carolina's nickname of Gamecocks -- an obvious endorsement of the grotesque sport of cockfighting. For the NCAA to give its tacit approval to an activity in which proud and beautiful birds are bred for the purpose of mutilating and killing each other for human entertainment is appalling.

I am an advocate of gun control and I want the NCAA to explain why it allows Gettysburg College to use the nickname "Bullets." With nearly 30,000 gun-related deaths in America every year, isn't this the most "hostile and abusive" nickname of all?

I am a victim of Hurricane Charley and demand that the NCAA forbid Miami from ever again using its "Hurricanes" nickname. To extol the virtues of natural disasters that have caused devastation and death and cost our state billions of dollars is inexcusable.

I am an African-American and I am outraged by Ole Miss' nickname of Rebels, which is a clear glorification of the South's fight to preserve state rights and slavery in the Civil War.

I am a Christian woman and I am insulted by the plethora of satanic nicknames such as the Duke Blue Devils and Northwestern State Demons. For the NCAA to endorse the work of The Dark Prince himself -- the enemy of God and all of mankind -- is an assault on America as a Christian nation.

I am a Muslim man and I am offended by Holy Cross's nickname -- the Crusaders. Thousands of my ancestors died during the Crusades, including thousands of captives slaughtered in cold blood by Richard the Lionhearted in 1191.

I am a devout Hindu and am starting a petition to ban the nickname of the South Florida Bulls. The cow is a sacred animal in my religion and to caricature it as some sort of loony, ridiculous mascot is an insult to the 1.1 billion Hindus worldwide.

I am a peaceable pacifist from Dublin and I am disgusted by Notre Dame's stereotypical portrayal of the "Fighting" Irish as a bunch of rowdy, drunken barroom brawlers.

I am a snakebite victim and cannot believe the NCAA allows Florida A&M and Florida Southern to use two deadly snakes -- Rattlers and Moccasins -- as their nicknames. Poisonous snakes bite more than 8,000 Americans each year, and rattlers and moccasins are among the most dangerous.

I am of Roman descent and I am offended by Southern Cal's mascot, The Trojan Horse, which, according to ancient history, the Greeks used to massacre thousands of my ancestors in the bygone city of Troy.

I am a reformed alcoholic and would like to lodge a complaint against Vassar College calling itself the "Brewers." Binge drinking in college is an epidemic, with one study reporting that alcohol is a factor in 1,400 student deaths each year. For the NCAA to allow a nickname so closely associated to beer-making is criminal.

I am not a spokesperson for any group; I'm just a frightened citizen of a violent world. Which is why I'm writing to complain about the nickname of the Ithaca College Bombers. In this day and age of suicide terrorists, isn't "Bombers" an affront to all of us and much more "hostile and abusive" than Florida State paying homage to an Indian tribe?

Hey, NCAA, give me the proud names of the Seminoles and Chippewas any day over the death and destruction of Bullets and Bombers.

Mike Bianchi can be reached at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com.

[mellobull]

 you know we all have to be politically correct now a days,  can't say anything without someone taking offence. Whoops! I hope I didn't offend anyone. ??? ???