by Xochitl Campos
Daily Lobo
Tuesday night's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumble" wasn't concerned with the outcome of the Yankees-Red Sox game. Instead, the show focused on the ethical use of mascots.
A segment featured Spokane tribe member Charlene Teters, a resident of New Mexico and professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. As an American-Indian activist, Teters said team names such as the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians are offensive to American Indians.
"It dehumanizes the people, and when you dehumanize the people, then we're vulnerable to racism and hate," she said. "It takes away the full range of humanity of what a group is, and it reduces them to a monolithic presentation, almost like a cartoon."
UNM student Cedric Fragua of Jemez Pueblo shares Teters' sentiments on American-Indian stereotypes.
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"It is more of a stereotype for Native Americans the way the Washington Redskins are dressed," he said. "You know that is the way they are all going to think of Native Americans."
He said the headdress worn by some mascots is not representative of American-Indian people, and he finds it offensive.
Teters said if American Indians are not seen as people with feelings, then their issues are often disregarded. ˇShe said she finds terms such as Redskin derogatory.
Fragua agreed.
"You'd never see the Washington Rednecks," Fragua said. "I mean, what if we named our baseball team the Albuquerque Wetbacks instead of the Albuquerque Isotopes?"
He said he could see why American Indians would be offended, but the use of mascots is more focused on Plains Indians than Pueblo Indians.
Teters said if American Indians are dehumanized in public, it lowers their self-worth. She blames the use of mascots for contributing to problems in American-Indian communities.
"There is a connection between the use of Native American mascots and the sense of hopelessness that our young people feel," she said. "There is a connection between dehumanization and the high teen suicide rate. We must be respected as a people in order to address the very contemporary issues that we are dealing with."
She acknowledged that American-Indian values vary among the differing nations, but emphasized the common goal each tribe has for its youth.
"Native families, like any families, work really hard to instill a sense of pride in our children to be proud of who they are as Native people from their particular culture," she said. "When they turn on the television and see these stereotypes being put forward, it is basically in direct opposition of what they are being taught at home. It makes our young people wonder what is so wrong with being who we are that people are making fun of us on primetime television."
Fragua said he supports Teters' actions.
"It is important for Native Americans," he said. "We aren't mascots."
