sport teams' names and mascots
announcing that The Oregonian would no longer print racist team and mascot names, editor William Hilliard said, "These names tend to perpetuate stereotypes that damage the dignity and self-respect of many people in our society ... this harm far transcends any innocent entertainment or promotional values these names may have." The use of Indian names for team names and mascots is considered by national and regional Indian and non-Indian groups to be derogatory, demeaning, disparaging, defamatory, racist, offensive, and insensitive. The National Congress of American Indians says, "Our sacred songs, dances, ceremonies, languages, and religions are precious to us as a people." Bill Pensoneau (St. Paul's Pioneer Press) writes, "The bottom line is that only Indians can say what is offensive, regardless of the intent. If we say 'Redskins' reminds us of massacres, believe us." For those who have worked for decades on this issue, change appears to be coming: In 2020, the Washington team temporarily renamed itself the Washington Football Team while deciding on a permanent replacement name. Still to be convinced: are the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Seminoles. After a four-year legal battle, the University of North Dakota retired the "Fighting Sioux" nickname for good. Perhaps the most damaging mascot is Chief Wahoo (his "idiotic grin, shifty eyes, and fire-engine red face are a devilish declaration of insensitivity and callousness"). Jon Lurie (The Circle) reports good news: "Some 3,000 elementary, middle, and high schools in the U.S. have dropped racist team names over the past 30 years, according to research conducted by News Watch Project at San Francisco State University." In a related issue, Daniel A. Buford (in Conscience) writes, "The macabre practice of naming weapons of death after native American people [H-13 Sioux, CH-21 Shawnee, UH-1A Iroquois, H-19B Chickasaw, OH-58A Kiowa, T-41 Mescalero, CH-47A Chinook, Chief combat command vehicle, AH-64A Apache, OV-1 Mohawk, Tomahawk cruise missile, U-8F Seminole] is ... linguistic racism and cultural imperialism. The use of 'borrowed' names is more than word play. Names, cultures, and lands have been expropriated and consumed in areas where indigenous people once predominated. The practice of coopting the names of defeated enemies is analogous to ancient rites of battle wherein the heart or the liver of a defeated opponent was eaten in order to symbolically internalize the vanquished power of the opponent.... The appropriation of Native American names by the U.S. military is a practice even more offensive, if less culturally pervasive, than racist athletic team symbols." Newspapers that no longer print racist sports teams' names use instead "the Atlanta baseball team" or simply "Atlanta." See also American Indian.
