Do You Agree or Disagree with the Use of Sports Teams' Use of a Logo or Symbol Associated with Native Americans? Why?

Do you agree or disagree with the use of sports teams' use of a logo or symbol associated with Native Americans? Why?

The answer to this question is complex. To understand the negative aspects fully we must understand the origin of team mascots.  Originally mascots were young boys who assisted army soldiers.  When it came to sports, the young boys who carried the bats or got refreshments for the team were called mascots.  In the late 1800’s sporting mascots became racially motivated.  For example, the Chicago White Sox mascot was a former Vaudeville performer (a Black male with bushy hair).  The team rubbed his “wooly” hair for good luck.  Mascots were mocked and treated as property.  In other words, mascots were something (not someone) you could control or dominate.  Professional Native American athletes in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s experienced racial degradation on the field because they were not considered equal to Whites.

Armed with this knowledge I would answer yes; the usage of Native American logos should be removed.  But, according to Wikipedia, the Washington Redskins logo/mascot did not form in the fore mentioned way.  Initially named the Braves, “the team moved to Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) the next year, and Marshall changed the name to the "Redskins". A 1933 news article quotes Marshall as saying that he did not name the team specifically in honor of Dietz or any of the team's native members, but because Marshall wanted to avoid any confusion with the Braves baseball squad while still keeping the native connotations of the previous moniker (unlike "Indians", used by another baseball team, no professional sports team at the time was using the name "Redskins").