The Struggle to End the Racism of Indian Mascots

February 23, 2007 Click Here to Listen: Racism in Sports

Racism in Sports and the Media: Chief Illiniwek May Have Had Last Dance, But Redskins, Braves, Etc. Maintain Hostile Landscape

“It is not an honor to be mimicked by fans with painted faces and turkey feathers at sporting events, nor is it an honor to have our race, our self-esteem and our dignity trampled every week for America’s fun and games.” ~Tim Giago

University of Illinois mascot Chief Illiniwek made a final appearance Wednesday night at a home basketball game in Urbana Champaign, thus ending the 81-year old practice that has long offended Native Americans. Since 1926, Chief Illiniwek has mostly been portrayed by a white student dressed in buckskin who paints his face and performs a dance during halftime at Illinois football and basketball games. Last week, the university finally decided to get rid of the mascot after pressure from the NCAA, which in 2005 said the mascot was “hostile and abusive” and said its continued use would prevent the university from hosting any NCAA tournament games. Now that the basketball post-season is approaching, university officials have finally relented.

The mascot has been a controversial figure since the mid 1970s, when white students on campus first spoke out against the mascot. Protests began again in 1989 when Charlene Teters, a Native graduate student from the Spokane tribe, began protesting the Chief at athletic events. Soon, individuals, organizations, and academic departments, both on and off the University campus, began to support the mascot’s retirement. Outside support included the National Congress of American Indians, the National Indian Education Association, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Education Association, Amnesty International, and Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas. At the UIUC campus, the Native American House, the American Indian Studies program, and the Native American student organizations all called for its retirement. But campus support for the Chief remained strong until the end, and last night’s final performance was marked by a solemn crowd. Supporters of the mascot have said for years that the chief is meant to honor Native Americans, not to insult. This of course, follows a decades-long fight that has occurred throughout the United States. There still remain hundreds of high schools, universities and professional teams around the country that use Native American imagery for sports symbols and mascots. The more well-known include the Florida State Seminoles, the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Redskins, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Cleveland Indians.

• Charlene Teters, (Spokane) a founding Board Member of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media, an artist, activist, and lecturer. She challenges the inappropriate use of American Indian images, culture and spiritual life ways by schools, scholars, museums, corporations, and media. In 1988 she and her artwork became politicized at The University of Illinois, a school that uses as their mascot the image of a fantasy "Chief." She was the first Native American on the campus to protest the use of Chief Illiniwek as mascot.
• Tim Giago, (Oglala Lakota) a journalist who has long been covering the Indian mascot issue. He is the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association. He was also the founder and publisher of the Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers.

Related Links: www.CharleneTeters.com, Tim Giago’s Recent Article on HuffingtonPost.com, National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, Wisconsin Indian Education Association “Indian” Mascot & Logo Taskforce

 

July 15, 2005

The struggle to end the racist practice of using Indian mascots is looked at with the history of the word "Redskins." What are the origins and how has the word been used?
Beverly Jacobs is the President of the Native Women's Association in Canada, and tells us about the gendered and racialized forms of violence and oppression Native women experience in Canada.