A Historical Sport Perspective on Native Iconology and Underrepresentation - Nick McCargar

For decades Native American symbols, logos, and mascots have been used by sports teams at the high school, collegiate, and professional level to represent pride and promote a fiercely competitive image. Institutions currently using Native American imagery claim their representations of Native people are meant to honor the courage, strength, and discipline inherent of Native cultures as opposed to exploiting and demeaning them. By bringing to light issues of underrepresentation and correlations between Native American history and Native American participation in sport, I will provide evidence that the Native American mascot controversy is a white cultural facade rather than a Native American outcry against racial and ethnic discrimination.

            Looking out onto a collegiate football field or basketball court, rarely does one find a Native American student athlete. According to the most recent (2009-10) NCAA Student-Athlete Race and Ethnicity Report, Native American males account for only .4% of all male student-athletes, regardless of division. Coincidentally, Native American females likewise account for .4% of all female student-athletes in the NCAA (Zgonc 55). Clearly Native Americans are underrepresented in collegiate sport, however the same cannot be said for the use of Native American iconology in the NCAA where 35 universities currently use Native American mascots and nicknames (Hart 1). Previously, as many as 600 schools have used Native American iconology to represent their sports programs (Hart 2).

            The issue in the mainstream sport media regarding Native American nicknames and mascots concerns mainly the physical depiction of Native Americans and a misrepresentation of individual tribal cultures. Yet, the question of who is actually making Native iconology in sports an issue is debatable. A prime example of such a debate occurred in 2012, when the Oregon State Board of Education banned the use of Native American themed mascots to avoid possible racism through inappropriate mascot images. However, the decision met backlash from in-state tribes. A spokesman for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians insists the board’s decision was made by “people who have no knowledge of Indian communities” and does nothing to address “real issues of racism” (Kost, 2012). Furthermore, a spokeswoman for the Confederation Tribes of Grande Ronde adds, “We are very disappointed that they’ve trampled our sovereignty and have ignored something that our tribes in Oregon have been called for years, which is a curriculum that accurately describes Oregon’s native history” (Kost, 2012). Both statements call attention to Native American underrepresentation, the real underlying issue regarding Native Americans and American sport culture

            Interestingly, underneath the media’s shaming of Native mascots, particularly prominent mascots such as the Redskins, is a diverse population of Native American influence and opinion that spans from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. Yet oddly enough, American society continues to perpetuate Native American stereotypes and general ideologies regarding all Native American cultures as one native society rather than a variety of different native cultures and groups. There is no denying that some Native American groups and tribes oppose Indian mascots and insist such images are racist and inappropriate. Yet, there are many other native tribes who identify native mascots and nicknames as honorable and symbolic of the positive intangibles that native tribes may possess. By taking one native tribe or individual’s disapproval of Indian mascots and nicknames and using such an opinion to speak for all Native Americans, the majority white society therefore prohibits native individuality and power. As a result, a domino effect occurs in the media and society, placing all native people at the center of unnecessary controversy while the white media speaks on behalf of the so-called racist misrepresentation of Native Americans.

            What goes largely unnoticed in the process of banning Native American iconology in sport is the systematic cleanse of Native American presence in sport. Given native athletes make up less than one percent of all NCAA competitors, each university that is forced to remove their redskins, Indians, warriors, or braves nickname, is forced to essentially erase Native American presence from the overall landscape of sport and popular culture. As a consequence, future generations of sports fans will instead continue to relate the courage, strength, discipline, and work ethic of American sports team athletes to generic mascots such as birds, dogs, cats, and fish, instead of the intangible attributes possessed by native individuals and tribes of the American past. That being said, the removal of Native American iconology in sport perpetuates white racial dominance and further weakens Native American participation and representation in American sport.

            Since the arrival of white European settlers on American soil, Native Americans have
historically been demeaned and taken advantage of for the benefit of white society. Today’s 
American sport culture, which is run primarily by white males, is no different. Due to the low 
proportion of Native American athletic participation in collegiate sport and the ideological 
beliefs regarding Native American individuals, American white society is taking advantage of 
the underrepresentation of native cultures to eliminate the mainstream images and connections between Native Americans and sport permanently. 

Links
  <http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=mcnair_journal>.

<http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/05/two_tribes_call_state_board_of.html>.

<http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/SAEREP11.pdf>.