Psychologists Join War Against Racist Campus Mascots
Imagine, if you will, a tall, thin Black man, dressed in
Hollywood-inspired African warrior attire, bearing a scowling
countenance, and brandishing a spear. Now imagine this character being
used as the mascot of a college sports team — the Blackskins. At half
time, a White cheerleader dressed in full costume and Blackface, might
portray a Blackskin and run up and down the sidelines high-stepping in
a mock African war dance. His antics are imitated by spectators in the
stands who stab at the air with their crudely fashioned lances,
growling and screaming like fierce animals. Then, imagine all of this
is broadcast weekly to a nationwide television audience.
Are you feeling offended yet?
Sadly, for Native Americans across the country, there is nothing
imaginary about this indignation. Today, scores of public and private
colleges and universities still use Indian mascots and symbols for
their sports teams. While a handful of universities, such as Stanford,
Marquette, Eastern Michigan, Miami of Ohio, and Dartmouth, have dropped
their Indian mascots in recent years, these institutions are the
exception.
The decade-long struggle to remove Indian sports mascots from
college campuses and professional sports received a boost recently from
the psychology department at the University of
Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, which hosted a national conference on the
topic in April. By a vote of 33-5, the conference joined a long list of
individuals, associations, and academic departments nationwide who are
calling for the removal of Native Americans as mascots.
What’s significant about the UIUC department’s position, says
chairman Dr. Ed Shoben, is that it’s in line with the majority of
faculty at the university.
“The majority of the faculty believe that the use of [Chief
Illiniwek] is both offensive and inappropriate,” he says. Illiniwek, a
fictional chief of the Illinois people, is the University’s mascot.
