Offensive mascots remain a problem

In Metro Cleveland we make-up .2% of the population. Our voices are seldom heard.

When usa history fails........

It teaches that genocide can be a fun taunt!

Offensive T-Shirt Shows NDSU Fans Can’t Let Go: ‘Sioux Suck’ Chant Lives On

Konnie LeMay
11/19/16
Even when the racist logos are banned, it takes time for the racist fallout to subside.


Read more at https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/11/19/offensive-t-shirt-shows-ndsu-fans-cant-let-go-sioux-suck-chant-lives-166519

Eventually we will win this battle.
“It is very encouraging to hear that Commissioner Manfred is willing to stand up and take real action to help eliminate the damaging mascotization of Native Americans in professional sports,” Change the Mascot leaders Jackie Pata, director of the National Congress of American Indians Executive, and Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation Representative, said in a joint press release.

Pata and Halbritter said they hope NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will take a lesson from Manfred’s playbook and work with the Washington NFL team to repeal its name and mascot.

“Commissioner Manfred’s actions to better Major League Baseball should serve as a wakeup call to National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, who can and should press for ending the use of the dictionary-defined R-word slur by the Washington NFL team. This derogatory epithet–used to demean Native Americans for centuries–should not be publicly used and marketed in 2017 without consequence,” the press release reads." Sooner than later hopefully!

Yeah, I heard about the Cleveland Indians logo.

We've had our discussions on this topic.

I just personally can't think of anything that would be so offensive to me.
And I've not lived in your shoes to understand what all is behind it.

I'm not emotionally attached to the Indians logo, just as I was not attached to my alma mater Miami (of Ohio) Redskins (at the time).

I just find it kind of disappointing from a "traditional" point of view.

Kinda like tearing down your old high school - either for a new one, or a shopping mall (or a used car lot Haha!!)
... Oh well...

I understand tradition, however new traditions will be built. I think eons of First Nation tradition trumps a few decades of mascot tradition. And this does not even cover the psychological impacts that have been documented.

Why do mascots have to be offensive anyway..? OK, so it's not a big deal to have a little "Mascot Mayhem" during the half time interval of a football match. You know the sort of thing: Get ludicrously clad idiots competing against each other in ridiculous contests for the entertainment of the fans and stuff like that, but to use them as a vehicle for causing offence..? What's that all about..?

Hartlepool United FC (a minor English football league club) fans, when polled, voted to call their club mascot H'angus. an odd name you may think, but one rooted in local folklore. OK... a little English folklore lesson here. Please indulge me, but you might find this darkly amusing.....

The story has it that during the Napoleonic Wars a French naval vessel was sunk off the coast by gunfire from a shore battery based in Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey that was presumably a pet of one of the French crewmen. When it came ashore on some floating wreckage it was set upon by townsfolk and because it was wearing a French uniform (presumably put upon it by its now deceased owner) it was questioned by townsfolk who had never seen a monkey before and presumed it was just an ugly Frenchman. As the monkey was unable to answer their questions it was charged with being a spy and hanged.

To this day, folk from Hartlepool are labelled "Monkey Hangers."

Anyway folklore lesson over, let's get back to the mascot....... The fans of Hartlepool named their club mascot H'angus and he became so popular that the first wearer of the costume, Stuart Drummond, was even elected Town Mayor whilst in the guise of the character (though he wasn't permitted to wear the costume for official functions).

The point is (yes, I do get to one eventually. lol) that Hartlepool folk, rather than considering the label "Monkey Hanger" offensive, have embraced it and celebrate it amusingly as a part of their local culture and identity, although I doubt very much the monkey found it amusing at the time.

There is even a Monkey Song in popular culture (freely available. Author unknown)

n former times, mid war an' strife,
The French invasion threatened life,
An' all was armed to the knife,
They hanged the Monkey Oh..!!
The townsfolk wi' courage high,
Seized on the Monkey for a spy,
"Hang him" says yen, says another,"He'll die!"
They did, and they hanged the Monkey Oh..!!
They tried every move to make him speak,
They tortor'd the Monkey till loud he did squeak
Says yen, "That's French," says another "it's Greek"
For the townsfolk had got drunky, Oh..!!
"He's all ower hair!" some chap did cry,
E'en up te summic cute an' sly
Wiv a cod's head then they closed an eye,
Afore they hanged the Monkey Oh..!!


Honest, I wasn't kidding.... They really did make the monkey their Mayor..

Supreme Court rules on disparaging trademarks

"Holding that the registration of a trademark converts the mark into government speech would constitute a huge and dangerous extension of the government-speech doctrine, for other systems of government registration (such as copyright) could easily be characterized in the same way," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion.
...
"If affixing the commercial label permits the suppression of any speech that may lead to political or social 'volatility,' free speech would be endangered."