Content

During argumentative writing unit, we learned about Native Americans. By reading the book "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. We read articles, and watched videos on how different types of people feel about having Native American's as sports mascots. Is the use of Native American mascots a source of pride and honor for Native Americans, or is it racist and detrimental to Native American culture? That was the main question they decided what side we were on to write our 5 paragraph essay on

Evidence of work

Joey Cook

Ms Bedford

English 9, period 1

28 October 2019

Indians Are Not Mascots

Native Americans should never be mascots. The use of Native American mascots should be banned from team names. The Navtive American mascots are racist and detrimental because the names can be derogatory terms and slurs, the imagery is unrealistic, and since mascots are usually animals it lowers their status.

The name Redskins is a derogatory term and slur. The Redskins name is very offensive, shown in a video from Buzzfeed where they interviewed Native American activists, and they said, “This a dictionary defined racial slur (Buzzfeed).”This is horrible that one of the NFL’s teams names is a derogatory slur and if the Native Americans don't like it then it shouldn't be a big deal to just change the name.The name redskins is a word that should not be repeated shown in the article Native American Mascots:Pride or Prejudice “But the Merriam-Webster dictionary says this: “The word redskins is very offensive and should be avoided.” And to many Native Americans nothing could be more derogatory than the use of that word (Basu).” Since there is so much evidence that states the name is a derogatory slur it would not be a big deal to change it even if we think we are honoring the Natives because they obviously don't like it.

The logos used by teams are unrealistic and show native americans as things they are not. The mascots don't properly represent Indians “At the expense of real Indians real history real culture. The petty stereotype has become expected(Basu).That quote is a little extreme but what the author is trying to say is that since the indian mascots are portrayed in savage type manner that people perceive them differently. “People don’t look like this (Buzzfeed group of Natives 0:32).” The Native Americans are unhappy because they feel they are misrepresented and feel like they are savages . Indians are misrepresented by the mascots.

Since mascots are usually animals it lowers Native Americans status. A lot of Native Americans dislike the idea of being a mascot because they feel like it lowers their worth hears a quote from the article Native American activists continue their fight against Redskins team name “...to cleanse itself of the mockery of the Native people (blackistone).” If the Indians feel that we are mocking them by having them as a mascot we should change it. Also it seems like all the mascots are either animals or Indians “The most popular mascots in the country are Indians and animals (Episode Daily Snow).”The way these mascots are shown in logos are unacceptable, the images are extremely outdated and don't look anything like modern day Idians.

In conclusion Native American mascots are racist and detrimental. The names can be a derogatory term or slur. The imagery is unrealistic to modern day mascots. It is degrading to the Indians to be a mascot because usually mascots are animals. Indians really dislike the name and it is a good idea to change it So just change the mascots names

Reflection

During the time we spent on the unit my time management improved with my work ethic and organisation because while writing essays you need to be on top of it because if you fall behind it is a lot of work to catch up on. I think my critical thinking and cultural competence improved. my critical thinking improved because I had to think hard about writing the essay. My cultural competence improved because we had to think about others and how there situations affected them.