Native American Mascots Research Paper

Sports teams at any level always have mascots. Mascots give fans something to cheer for. However, there is some controversy about some of the mascots. Some team names and mascots are related to Native Americans, such as The Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, and the Florida State Seminoles. Some people will argue that these mascots are offensive, and others will say that they are just mascots. Sports teams should use Native American names and mascots because fans support these teams with pride, they don’t reflect poorly on Native Americans, and actual Native American tribes want to be named after sports teams.
Fans of these sports teams support them with pride. They cheer for these teams with passion. So obviously, the fans these sports teams don’t find it offensive because they wouldn't be cheering and supporting them. You never see Washington Redskin fans or Cleveland Indian fans booing their own
Teams haven’t had to change their names or logos, so this means that people generally aren’t finding it offensive. According to a recent poll done by The Washington Post, it was determined that 9 in 10 Native Americans are not offended by the Redskins name. The question asked, “The professional football team in Washington calls itself the Washington Redskins. As a Native American, do you find that name offensive, or doesn’t it bother you?” According to their data, they showed that 90% said it did not bother them, a mere 9% said that it was offensive, and 1% had no opinion. I believe that these surveys, help take steps in the right direction. This data shows that my belief can be reached because the majority of people who participated in the survey said is wasn’t offensive. In my opinion, these names should be seen as mascots and people should respect the origins of how these successful teams got the Native American