Nicknames and Mascots, Part 2: Native People are NOT your Mascot
Jan Plotczyk • March 16, 2021
Read Part 1 here.
The nation is currently debating whether it is wrong to use Native American nicknames and mascots for schools and athletic teams. Five of Maryland’s Eastern Shore high schools still use Native American nicknames. While some of those schools have taken steps to discontinue the use of more offensive images and characterizations, the question remains: should Native American nicknames and mascots be used at all, especially by schools, or are they racist appropriations that knowingly or unknowingly perpetuate stereotypes?
Many fans and members of affected school communities have reacted negatively to name changes or even suggestions of name changes. They cite political correctness run rampant and decry the "cancel culture" of today’s society. Defenders of the names claim they draw on tradition. Most who object to changing the names and mascots claim that their use is intended to honor or commemorate Native Americans, not to denigrate them. They claim that Native people support the use of these nicknames and mascots. Theirs is a defensive posture claiming to preserve history.
But who should write the history of Native peoples? And what are the effects of these nicknames on Native Americans and on society?
To examine these questions, Ezra J. Zeitler wrote his 2008 geography doctoral thesis on this subject: Geographies of Indigenous-based Team Name and Mascot Use in American Secondary Schools. In it he makes the case that “the issue of Native American mascots is an important one in the struggle for Indigenous autonomy and self-definition.” He contends that the nicknames and imagery are harmful because they communicate a false image of Native people as being characteristically and stereotypically belligerent and warlike.
Zeitler goes on to say that when these nicknames and images are used in learning environments, they take on added authority, and that the significant influence of teachers and peers can reaffirm racial stereotypes.
The American Psychological Association passed a strongly worded resolution 15 years ago calling for the immediate retirement of all team nicknames, mascots, and other derogatory representations based on Native American heritage. It based this position on key findings from a wide range of psychological and sociological research that shows the harmful effects of racial stereotyping and inaccurate racial portrayals.
The APA wrote that racist and derogatory nicknames and mascots can establish an unwelcome and hostile learning environment for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. But just as importantly, these mascots undermine the educational experience of all students, particularly those with little or no contact with Indigenous people — as in our Eastern Shore high schools. The symbols, images, and mascots teach non-Indian children that it's acceptable to perpetuate mistaken beliefs about American Indian culture.
A 2001 statement from the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights (calling for an end to the use of Native American images and team names by non-Native schools) explains: “The stereotyping of any racial, ethnic, religious, or other groups when promoted by our public educational institutions, teaches all students that stereotyping of minority groups is acceptable, a dangerous lesson in a diverse society. Schools have a responsibility to educate their students; they should not use their influence to perpetuate misrepresentations of any culture or people.”
The APA also found that these representations have a direct negative impact on the self-esteem of Native American youth. Dr. Stephanie Fryberg, the leading researcher in this area and a psychology professor at the University of Arizona, states that “American Indian mascots are harmful not only because they are often negative, but because they remind American Indians of the limited ways in which others see them. This, in turn, restricts the number of ways American Indians can see themselves.”
There is no good reason to limit children’s image of themselves and of what they can be.
Cierra Fields, a Cherokee and member of the National Congress of American Indians Youth Cabinet, says in the APA paper: “When I see people wearing headdresses and face paint or doing the tomahawk chop, it makes me feel demeaned. The current society does not bother to learn that our ways, customs, dress, symbols, and images are sacred. They claim it’s for honor but I don’t see honor in non-Natives wearing face paint or headdresses as they are not warriors who have earned the right. My heritage and culture is not a joke. My heritage and culture is not a fashion statement. For me, it ultimately boils down to respect. Respect our heritage by not using a caricature of a proud people but by learning about our history.”
IllumiNative is a new nonprofit project, created and led by Native peoples. It is designed to increase the visibility of — and to challenge the negative narrative about — Native Nations and peoples in American society. Their website announces that “Native People are NOT your Mascot.” The organization advances several arguments that support the end of the use of Native American nicknames, mascots, and imagery.
First, contrary to dominant culture claims, Native peoples do not support Native mascots. Flawed opinion polls have been used to silence Native people on this subject and to justify the perpetuation of Native nicknames and mascots. New peer-reviewed scientific studies show, however, that Native peoples are overwhelmingly offended by team names that are racist slurs, and by Native mascots and racist fan behavior.
Next, as mentioned above, research on the psychosocial effects of Native American mascots on Native youth shows these damaging effects: lowered self-esteem; increased rates of depression, self-harm, and substance abuse; and increasing discrimination in schools against Native students.
Finally, racist imagery desensitizes us all to violent and oppressive behavior toward other people. Degrading and humiliating stereotypes dehumanize entire groups of people. Use of these images encourages fans to mock Native people, defame Indigenous cultures, and perpetuate negative stereotypes by “playing Indian” — doing things like wearing sacred headdresses, shouting war whoops, and doing the “tomahawk chop.”
The Center for American Progress, in a 2014 report, recommended among other steps that State-level boards of education and education agencies should identify schools in their state using Native American nicknames and imagery, examine their impact, and develop recommendations to remove harmful representations. Perhaps it’s time for the Maryland State Board of Education to update its 2001 guidance on stereotypical nicknames and mascots, since virtually no progress has been made since then.
There is also no reason why local government agencies cannot get involved. The Montgomery County School Board prohibited the use of Indian names or racial, gender, or cultural stereotypes for mascots, logos, and school team names in 2001. If the state will not mandate this, perhaps the local school boards will.
Finally, the time has never been better to raise this issue with the Cecil, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester boards of education. Yes, there’s still covid-19, but that should not stop these conversations. Be prepared for a major money objection; the few schools that have changed names recently have needed about $80,000 for rebranding — everything from signs to stationery to uniforms. The alumni/ae community will probably be against such a move, citing tradition, but the current students may well be more empathetic than their parents and grandparents.
The spotlight is on discriminatory and racist behavior and institutional racism, and it is time to address the negative impacts of Native American nicknames, mascots, and imagery in sports, schools, and society. There is really no reason to retain them. The use of disparaging Indigenous-based nicknames not only negatively affects Native Americans, it affects everyone.
Racism hurts us all.
Sources:
Zeitler, Ezra J., "Geographies of Indigenous-based Team Name and Mascot Use in American Secondary Schools" (2008).
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=geographythesis
American Psychological Association, “Summary of the APA Resolution Recommending Retirement of American Indian Mascots,” (2005).
Statement of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the Use of Native American Images and Nicknames as Sports Symbols (2001).
https://www.usccr.gov/press/archives/2001/041601st.htm
https://illuminatives.org/change-the-name/
Fryberg, Stephanie A, Eason, Arianne E, Brady, Laura M., “Unpacking the Mascot Debate: Native American Identification Predicts Opposition to Native Mascots” (2020).
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550619898556?journalCode=sppa&
Davis-Delano, Laurel L., Gone, Joseph P., Fryberg, Stephanie A., “The psychosocial effects of Native American mascots: a comprehensive review of empirical research findings” (2020).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2020.1772221?journalCode=cree20
Phillips, Victoria, and Stegman, Erik, “Missing the Point: The Real Impact of Native Mascots and Team Names on American Indian and Alaska Native Youth” (2014).
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1003&context=fasch_rpt
Resolution of the Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs (2001).
https://aistm.org/maryland.resolution.2001.htm
Jan Plotczyk spent 25 years as a survey and education statistician with the federal government, at the Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics. She retired to Rock Hall.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:
Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.
For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.
The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.
