Quote:
Originally Posted by BaltimoreSkins
I started reading a few of these when the name change demand started in June I have changed my stance on the name. I don’t need to be contributing to Native American problems by rooting for a mascot. The first link is a great review paper and the second link shares several research papers on the name.
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Thank you. Interesting reading. This is the kind of dialogue I was seeking, rather than the name-calling and labeling another poster consistently resorts to.
A conclusion that is drawn in a few of these studies is that the use of Native American mascots reduces the self-esteem of Native American youth, despite the indication that the majority of respondents in the studies said they were proud of the way Native Americans were portrayed in these mascots and were not against the use of the mascots. It wasn't really explained how their level of self-esteem was measured. If it is true that Native American youth are being psychologically damaged by the use of these mascots, then I would be in favor of eliminating all such mascots. I'd like to see more of the hard data of how that conclusion was arrived at, though. Reading the hypotheses that these studies commenced with, it seems that the possibility of confirmation bias exists in these studies. If such a study was commenced with the presupposition that the mascots either did or did not cause psychological issues, the interpretation of the results, or the very nature of how the questions are presented could potentially affect the findings.
"Discussion
The American Indian mascot representation had more positive associations than the clearly negative representation presented in the Stereotypically Negative Outcomes condition. The Chief Wahoo mascot representation was as positive as the Pocahontas representation. Taken together, these results suggest that American Indian mascot representations are not always regarded as negative. However, the guiding question is whether these positive associations also have positive psychological consequences for American Indian students. In Studies 2 to 4, we examine whether American Indian mascot representations influence how American Indians make sense of themselves both personally and as group members. Specifically, in Study 2,
we hypothesize that although Chief Wahoo and Pocahontas elicit positive associations, they will still depress self-esteem relative to the control condition."
"Conclusion
Given the documented educational inequities for Native Americans in comparison to U.S. averages, it is crucial that educational institutions take immediate actions to facilitate the success of Native American students. Although most people in the U.S. do not perceive Native American mascots as problematic, all of the academic studies undertaken to study the psychosocial effects of these mascots demonstrate either direct negative effects on Native Americans or that these mascots activate, reflect, and/or reinforce stereotyping and prejudice among non-Native persons. Based on this concise, but consistent, body of research evidence, we conclude that it is past time to eliminate Native American mascots in educational (and other) settings throughout the United States."
That there are educational inequities for Native Americans is not in dispute. I'm sure there are, but that fact exists independently from sports teams using Native American mascots. It is a real problem that demands real action to improve. Changing sports teams names as a supposed remedy for these educational inequities seems rather like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Again, if the use of these mascots in a respectful manner truly does negatively impact the self-esteem of Native American youth, then, by all means eliminate the use of these mascots. All of them. I'm just not sure that these research papers have adequately proven that. I've only read four of them, so some of the others may have more conclusive data.
Native Americans face real challenges and inequities in our society. I'm just not sure that the use of Native American sports mascots is a cause.
As I understand it, there are a lot of folks that don't really have a problem with Native American mascots, per se, but strongly wanted the removal of the mascot "Redskins" from our team in particular. Apparently, the view was that the word is a racial slur. The studies that you linked which I have read don't address this. My question remains: "is it?" I am unaware of that usage of the word, and have seen no evidence that the word is being used in such a way by anyone. And as I asked in my previous post, why on earth would an owner, bigot or not, choose to name his team with a racial slur? How does that make any sense to anyone? No one has yet explained that. But then, I'm stupid.
As I said, the barn door is closed and the name of my favorite team is changed forever. I'm not happy about it, but life goes on and I'm still a fan of the Football Team. It's not the end of the world and I certainly don't presume that those that don't agree with me are either unintelligent or belong to any particular political party.