Sarah Woodbury
"Know Your Media" ASPDP Course
November 10, 2012
Final Lesson Plan
Lesson topic:
Sports Teams Using Native American Symbolism
Aim: Why do
many Native Americans oppose sports teams' use of Native American names,
mascots, and logos?
Objectives:
Students will
understand:
·
the historical meaning behind some well-known
mascots, names, and logos.
·
many Native American individuals and groups
oppose the use of these mascots because of their stereotypical nature and the
effects they can have on non-natives' understanding of Native Americans.
·
the issue is a current, controversial one that
involves a variety of options (change the name/logo/mascot entirely, change
just one of those elements, not changing any of them, give them time to change,
etc.)
Students will be
able to:
·
write persuasively to suggest a course of action
for handling the sports mascots.
Agenda:
1) Do
Now/motivation:
a. Think
about our school's mascot, the Lab Gator.
Why do you think this mascot and name were chosen? What is it supposed to convey about our
school?
b. List
as many sports teams that you can think of that use Native American names,
logos, and/or mascots.
a.
Logo: a recognizable image used by an
organization (company, team, etc.)
b.
Mascot: a person, animal, or object adopted by a
group as a symbolic figure meant to bring them luck
2) Introduce
students to some well-known teams that use Native American names, logos, and/or
mascots (use DN share-out to lead into this)
·
Observations and Analysis: Why were these
names/logos/mascots chosen? What do you think these names and logos are
supposed to convey about the team?
o Tomahawk
in Braves logo and tomahawk chop (weapon, for fighting) à to show strength,
ferocity
o Chief
(leader, in charge) à to show they're the #1 team
o Braves
(term for a young warrior) à the players are fierce fighters
o The
Redskins logo (serious face) à don't mess with the team, take them seriously
3) Reading:
Introduce that this is a controversial topic by reading the Junior Scholastic
article.
·
Create a t-chart: Reasons for and reasons
against using these mascots (color-code the reading… one color for pro reasons
and one color for anti)
4) What are some Native
Americans and organizations saying about these mascots?
·
After each clip: Add to t-chart – what other
reasons arose for why some people think these should not be used?
·
Clips/articles:
o Democracy
Now! clip (Oct. 12, 1998): Charlene Teters speech against the use of mascots
§ Segments:
·
15:55-19:32 (3m37s)
·
32:53-35:40 (2m47s)
§ Things
to look for: 1) Additional reasons for not using the mascots; 2) What do you
learn about the symbols we looked at earlier, namely the Redskins name/logo and
the names Braves and Chiefs?
o Clip
for In Whose Honor? (documentary
about the use of Indian-themed mascots): shows how some of the actions sports
fans take are just plain false (ex: drumbeat) (2m33s)
5) Discussion questions:
·
Are some ok and others not? Where do you draw
the line?
o Show
slideshow from NY Times about the shift that some teams have made:
·
Why is this issue important? You could
easily say "they're just sports mascots," and many people point to
the life-or-death issues that face Indians today (suicide rates, poverty, crime
rates, etc.)
·
Who has the right to create these mascots, or
any mascots?
·
What about when branches of tribes are divided on the issue, as with the Fighting Sioux and the Florida State Seminoles?
·
What might be challenging about a team changing
its name? If it's becoming more widely accepted that some or all of these
mascots/names/logos are offensive, why don't more teams change? (Loyal
fan base? Financial burdens of changing all the paraphernalia? Who has the
power to change these mascots?)
·
Once we break down the stereotypes, what do we
do? Do we not watch those games anymore? Do we write letters to the
owners? Boycott? What could we do?
6) Processing Assignment:
·
Write a letter to a team owner to try to get him
or her to change the logo/name/mascot (choose from the major teams we
discussed, like the Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves, etc.)
·
Structure: Argumentative letter with two paragraphs:
o One
paragraph on the recommendation you're making (change the name, logo, and/or
mascot immediately or by a certain date?; change only the name, logo, or
mascot?; check with a specific tribe or branch of the tribe for approval, etc.)
o One
paragraph on the reasons you're making this recommendation (include at least
three pieces of evidence from the t-chart you created for why it must change,
and acknowledge at least one counterargument)
Junior Scholastic Article:
Sports Mascots: What Do You Think?
When a high school football team in
Mukwonago , Wisconsin
That makes
some residents angry.
“You are
dehumanizing Native Americans when you use them for logos and symbols,” says
Renee Pfaller, a member of the Oneida
tribe. “We are not a mythical creature
like the leprechaun of [Notre Dame’s] Fighting Irish. We are not animals like
Falcons or Hawks. We’re people.”
Charging
that they demean and stereotype American Indians, Pfaller has asked the school
to change its team name and logo.
Suddenly, this tranquil village of rolling hills and grassy farmland
outside of Milwaukee
has found itself torn by a bitter debate, one that has been played out in
cities across the nation.
Starting in
the early 1900s, many sports teams began to adopt Indian names like the
Blackhawks, Redmen, Chiefs, or Braves.
Today, hundreds of high school, college, and professional sports teams
use Indian names.
But
recently, Native American groups have objected.
Protesters have picketed the baseball games of the Cleveland Indians, whose
mascot is a grinning cartoon Indian chief, and the Atlanta Braves, whose fans
root for the team with a fake Indian war chant and the “tomahawk chop.”
Even more
offensive, says Tim Giago, editor of the South
Dakota newspaper Indian
Country Today, is the name of pro football’s Washington Redskins. “Redskins
is a word that should remind every American there was a time in our history
when America
paid bounties for human beings,” he says. “Along with coonskins and bear skins,
the selling of ‘redskins’ was also profitable.”
“Others say
the sports symbols reinforce an image of Native Americans as savages. “That’s the Hollywood stereotype and sports
teams perpetuate it,” says Tiokasin Veaux, a Native American activist in Washington State
Several
states, including Wisconsin ,
have asked schools with Indian team names to change them voluntarily. A few have.
But most continue to cling to what they see as a harmless tradition.
In
Mukwonago, people see the Indian as a positive image. Like many American towns, the village has a
Native American name and history.
This is a
way of honoring Indians and our heritage and the part they’ve played in our
community,” says school superintendent Paul Strobel.
In public
hearings on the issue, one resident said the issue was a case of political
correctness taken to an extreme. And a
poll of students found 401 in favor of keeping the logo and only 32 wanting to
change it.
Last
August, the school board voted to keep the name.
Pfaller has
appealed her case to the state. Despite
good intentions, she says, the name is offensive. “You wouldn’t say, ‘We’re the Mukwonago
Blacks,’ and put on an Afro wig and dance around,” she says. “It would be
unheard of. But it’s OK to do it to us.”
Junior Scholastic, February 10, 1995
Native
American imagery as sports mascots: A new problem
By Shankar Vedantam
Created Mar 25 2010 - 7:55pm
American
Indian mascots are a popular choice for sports teams. Controversy has raged,
however, about whether such mascots encourage stereotypes about native Americans.
New research suggests that there may be a problem of another sort entirely —
the use of these mascots seems to increase stereotyping of other groups.
The implications of the research are still not clear, but it is almost as
though once your hidden brain is encouraged to use mental
shortcuts such as “American Indian chief = sports warrior” it more easily comes
up with other kinds of mental shortcuts that have nothing to do with American
Indians. Sloppy thinking begets sloppy thinking.
Boosters
point out the mascots are much loved and used respectfully. Recently, however,
Chu Kim-Prieto, Lizabeth A. Goldstein, Sumie Okazaki and Blake Kirschner tested
how the use of a University of Illinois mascot, Chief Illiniwek, affected the
tendency of volunteers to stereotype an unrelated group — Asians. They
randomized volunteers into groups — one read about or was shown materials
depicting the athletics program and Chief Illiniwek and the other was given
materials about a university arts center. All the depictions about Chief
Illiniwek were exactly as boosters of American Indian sports mascots described
— respectful and admiring. The researchers found that volunteers shown the
American Indian mascot were quicker to come up with stereotypes about Asians
that suggested Asians were socially inept, overly competitive, and not
fun-loving.
The
University of Illinois retired the mascot after reviewing these findings. Read
more about the controversy here.
Published on Psychology Today (http://www.psychologytoday.com)
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