As luck would have it, I’m a student at Texas Tech right now, where the Red Raider name is still going strong. Behold the mascots LouisB mentions, The Masked Rider and the Red Raider himself, “Raider Red”. Neither looks particularly ethnic to me.
My High School team was the Red Raiders. The only thing they may have to change some day is the indian guy logo. Or the Native Americn guy logo…whatever. But he looks cool.
I think they should call their team the “Dainty Lacies” and wear pink uniforms with lace as it would really humiliate any team they defeated, but that’s another thread for another time.
I’m sorry, sir, but the name “Podunk” is that of an Indian tribe from eastern Connecticut. The school is going to have to change its name, too.
Well, I can’t really agree with that, seeing as my HS mascot was the Yuma Criminals.
Actually, I like the mascot – you can’t say it isn’t distinctive. But it was not named so because criminals are admired by the people in Yuma, or anywhere else, for that matter.
[Hijack]
My favorite African-American musician is Dave Matthews, and my favorite African-American actor is Charlize Theron.
[/Hijack]
Or, if you didn’t like that smart-assed remark, just let me say that I completely agree with delphica.
American Indian mascots would be just fine if a disturbing number of Americans did not believe that:
a) Indians “lost” America to the United States and are therefore inconsequential;
b) Indians no longer have their own culture within the U.S., or somehow aren’t Americans, or still worse, are extinct;
c) Indians are somehow immune to the sensitivities that other minority groups also have and which we as a nation generally respect.
Until then, we’re disrespecting them. No tomahawk chop for you!
And changing a team named the “Arrowheads” helps this how?
Maybe if they changed it to The European Arrowheads, Such As Those Used By The Soldiers Of Henry V In The Battle Of Agincourt, Certainly Not The Arrowheads Used By The Oppressed Indigoneus Peoples Of North America.
Hard to fit on a jersey, though.
I have no idea. I doubt it helps this at all. As I said, I personally don’t think all Indian-themed names are offensive, and I personally agree that Arrowheads seems like a pretty harmless name. For all I know, the issue was with the high school “Indians” so the town wanted to change all three to another theme, such as the Ponies/Colts/Stallions. Who knows? Well, Medea’s Child probably knows, but my guess is that Arrowheads got the old heave-ho because of it’s connection with the other two schools as opposed to its own merits (or lack of).
Am I the only one who had a terrible Dave Coulier flashback at the thread title?
I believe the problem that Native Americans have with the team names that aren’t explicitly derogatory (like “Redskins”) is that they depict them one-dimensionally. That is, only as aggressive, warrior types (noble savages, as the phrase goes). So calling them “brave” isn’t a compliment in their eyes if you’re only recognizing their purported aggressive nature.
And that gets to the crux of why Indians are used as mascots. In other words, how are they being honored by being used as mascots?
Actually, Notre Dame was originally founded by French Jesuits. The complete name is, L’Universite de Notre Dame du Lac. You’re correct that “Irish” was originally a “slur” applied to all Catholics. When the name was adopted, ND was, of course, Catholic but not primarily Irish. It therefore seems to me that such a usage is inapproprate.
The “Fighting” portion of the name is even worse as it echoes a vicious racial stereotype. Plus, have you seen that mascot? This whole thing is highly offensive and must be changed immediately!
Oddly, the Irish don’t seem to complain about this.
That’s really the whole point, isn’t it? That’s why the PC effort to elminate “offensive” names is so ridiculous. Eliminating “bad” words for offensive ideas only creates new words for the same ideas. Changing the racial designation du jour when it starts to get a bad connotation just means that racists will start giving bad connotations to the new word. Someone was lamenting the loss of “negro” since it is no longer PC. It was quite PC in the past but is now considered “racist” by many. However, trying to make the United Negro College Fund change its letterhead isn’t going to end racism.
It also works the other way. Some groups have figured this out. “Queer” was once pejorative but is now worn by some as a badge of honor. The same thing happened with the “Fighting Irish.”
The word is not the idea. Eliminate racism and the racial language will take care of itself. However, by going on a PC language witch hunt, you risk creating a new stereotype of whiney self-absorption that will be all that much harder to shake in that it may be well-deserved.
Shame, shame in old Notre Dame,
Letting the Hunyocks bolster her fame.
Send Machewsky down the line,
Inkovitch, Stenkovitch, and Levine.
While all the Irish sit on the bench,
There go the Cro-ats, Poles, and the French.
The nation wonders what became
Of the Irish of Notre Dame.
Well, there’s always Montenegro.
I wonder where gay activists stand on the name of the mascot of Butte High School in Arco, Idaho.
The Butte Pirates…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
WTF were they thinking?
hehehehe…‘butte’…ehehehehehe…
I know…pirates in Idaho?
How silly.
“Living Color is my favorite Black Metal band.”
-Anal Cunt
I’m reminded of a Larry Niven story set a hundred years or so in the future that mentions a football team called the Berlin Nazis. Which reminds me of a Jack Handy quote where he says that he hopes that Americans are thought of as a violent and barbaric people in the future, so we can have sports teams named after us. Which reminds me just how fucked up my brain is.
Of course, I doubt anyone actually admires criminals, or pirates, or outlaws of any kind. But these names are still chosen for certain traits that are positive in context - the idea that criminals or pirates would be fearless and ferocious. So while the name is not intended to honour anyone, it is chosen for its positive, rather than negative, connotations.