I have been reading all the letters from various people about the
problem Indians have in having sports teams named after them, and even
a response from an Indian who apparently doesn't mind.
I am an American Indian, Cherokee Nation, and I most assuredly do mind
that teams reduce Indians to a symbolic mascot. I am nobody's mascot
and I think it is part and parcel of the American psychie (the
love-hate relationship) to reduce people to characatures ... which is
the way I feel about naming any team Indian ... redskins etc. ad
infinitum ad nauseum.
It doesn't matter whether "good intentions" or any other reason is
used. What matters is that it is offensive to a race of people and no
matter how it is rationalized, it is still offensive to us. Granted
there are some Indians who do not feel that way ... but most do. I
have spent too much of my life and energy trying to get this country
to take Indians and their concerns seriously, and know fully well that
as long as kids play cowboys and Indians, as long as cartoons and
teams and butter and clothing manufacturers and trucking companies
etc. use us as their symbol, they can avoid facing us face to face and
deal with the one issue we want them to understand. This is our
homeland and we have now disappeared from this continent.
Delores J. Huff