Spotting my brother sporting a Black Hawks jersey stirred up my thoughts on the propriety of the Native American mascot the hockey team portrays. The mascot that is always seen hand in hand with the team is seen with face paint and feathers. The Black Hawks logo portrays a common typecast that seems to define the Native American people in the public eye, a traditional man at a Pow-wow ceremony. This evidently does a meager job of defining the contemporary Native American or culture of the people. After reading Reservation Blues, I feel that I have become alert of narrow-minded portrayals of ethnic groups. I have been to a few Black Hawk games and I now find myself baffled as to why I never questioned the mascot before. The recognition of the mascot being offensive made me ask myself ‘how is this mascot possible in a world of politically correct statements?’ and ‘Why have I not heard the stories of Native American groups protesting the mascot?’ My Google news search only yielded two stories on Native American groups protesting the mascot. It was clear and disappointing to find out that the media has no drive to cover these stories or make much fuss over this issue. I can not imagine other ethnic mascots parading around defining a people without being deemed racist by the media. A nationally recognized sports team having an African American Mascot would not seem to fly without a hostile response from the public. It makes me wonder why the Native American version is any different and is not getting any response from the media or in least being discussed. A whole culture of a spirited people reduced to a stereo type parading around on the level of an animal mascot is distressing, but even more so paired with a silence from the public.
2 comments:
Great comment regarding an African Am. mascot and what people's response would be to that.
It's interesting to consider how many teams there are (professional, college, high school) that feature a Native Am. mascot. This issue clearly isn't specific to the Blackhawks.
mr. lawler, you took the words right out of my mouth! also, reading your post reminds me of the world series playoffs a few years ago, when the cubs were playing the atlanta braves. the braves fans would swing tomahawks, in an americanized "indian chant."
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