Thursday, January 29, 1998
Political correctness ineffective in society
MASCOTS: Alteration of team names still doesn’t erase racial
stereotypes
By J.P. Carnegie
The editorial article, "Indian mascots perpetuate stereotypes,"
(Jan. 26, 1998) in the Daily Bruin focuses on one of the most
unoriginal and overplayed racial issues in our politically correct
recent history, and I am sorry that The Bruin found it necessary to
donate space to such a sad rehash of this cry.
The author of this article states that team arguments claiming
to pay homage to indigenous people are invalid. I then ask whether
the editorial staff is aware of Louis Sockalexis, who was a
Penobscot Indian and the first Native American to play major-league
baseball. In 1914, a Cleveland newspaper held a contest to rename
the city’s franchise, and as we’re aware, the winning entry was
"Indians." The winner explained that this name was intended as
testament to baseball’s first American-Indian player.
However, this historical fact seems to contradict what the
author would lead us to believe about Indian related mascots. Was
the author motivated solely by emotion while ignoring simple facts?
It seems quite plausible.
In his book, "The Alphabet of Modern Annoyances," Neil Steinberg
brings up the challenge presented by a Native-American activist:
how would Jews feel were there to be a team called the "Brooklyn
Fighting Jews?" Although not speaking for other Jews, his response
is no less than "fantastic," seeing as how Jews are "a secure,
established and respected subgroup." If Jews might "indulge in a
little undignified humor," would it be so bad for Native Americans
to follow suit?
And fair is fair; if Native-American mascots are removed from
sports franchises then I will begin my campaign in which I will
demand that Notre Dame change their mascot to something other than
that little Irish guy. You see, as an American of direct Irish
ancestry, I could be quite offended by the stereotypical
representation of Irishmen as goofy bearded boxers. I don’t wear
green clothes and shamrocks and the like, but due to the
stereotypes perpetuated by Notre Dame’s athletic squads, one might
assume me to. In fact, the same folks that expect me to eat nothing
but potatoes and live in a cottage are most likely the same
insensitive dogs that expect Native Americans to rain dance across
campus in loincloths and headdresses.
Really, folks, renaming race-related or nationality-related
teams after animals or scary people isn’t going to drastically
change public perception. There will always be dimwits who will
think of Indians as drum-beating pipe-smokers and the Irish as
whisky-swilling potato farmers. If you want to change that, start
with the history books. Educate people so that they know what
Seminoles and Celtics and even Fighting Jews are really all
about.