revise my essay.

Haotian Liang

Dr. Toll

ENG 200

9 February 2017
Elimination of Stereotypes and bias

For been so far, I had read about few articles that discussed about the Native American Mascot and about the bias and stereotypes in the U.S. These articles have one common point which is the stereotypes of the society. There are too many stereotypes around the world not only in the U.S. And if it is able to eliminate stereotypes that will be a great step for the world. That is why I think the elimination of stereotype and bias are important. In my opinion,

The Native American mascots issue has been in the limelight for quite a considerable period. In Washington, the name of the Native American team implies honor as well as respect. This sentiment is commonly put forward by the executives of the sport clubs. Kevin Gover, who is the director of the National Museum of the American Indian as well as a citizen of the Oklahoma Pawnee tribe, mentions the historical contexts of an era when the Native American mascots flourished. The Native American Indians were not allowed to openly engage in tribal dances as they were seen to mock the religious rituals of the dominant white culture. (King & Charles 3).
A lab study was done to find an association between American mindsets and mascots commonly used across the country. Participants in the lab were shown an unfamiliar mascot, some that included Native American images. Other participants were shown an animal image. The next thing was measuring the association of the participants and how they related Native Americans with the stereotype of war, which is capitalized on by multiple teams, which have the Native American mascots. When the participants were asked directly without pictures of the mascots, they replied by seeing no warlike nature connected with the Native Americans. On the other hand, when the participants were asked to complete a stereotype test, the ones that had seen the mascot images of Native Americans associated warlike qualities with the Native Americans.
Staurowsky mentions that the information from the results shows several factors of implicit bias (64). Implicit bias frequently happens when asking people questions that concern a particular subject matter that is sensitive on a social front. In this regard, the participants dealing with the Native American mascots subject were not willing to admit to implicit racial bias while some were not aware of the influence that the mascots have upon their views of Native Americans. The participants’ bias was termed as an implicit one, which means that it was either incognizant or well concealed.
The results of the lab activity conducted prompted the participants to attempt and replicate their findings in the setting of the real world. In this regard, the media market that a person lives in influences the frequency of their exposure to a Native American mascot. There are expected differences in the attitudes of people that reside in cities that have sports mainly represented by the Native American mascots and those that do not reside alongside them. The people that reside in such cities inhabited by such mascots of America are most probable to perceive Native Americans as lovers of war.
It is sometimes not comprehended as a problem that people associate Native Americans with warlike qualities. After all, some people argue that being associated or being seen as warlike is a show of toughness and bravery. However, studies have shown that any stereotype, whether positive or negative, come along with consequences. Stereotypes can lead to anxiety in performance. Other studies have illustrated that when people feel they have to live up to “positive” stereotypes, it leads to future treatment full of prejudice. The defenders of these mascots of Native Americans go on arguing that the mascots are an honor of this group of Americans and that this enhances the pride of these native people. However, the face of stereotypes towards some minority groups of people is not only relegated to the mascots of Native America. Precisely, by the fact that a racist name is present in the Washington Redskins team name, it unconsciously continues the mindset of warlike stereotype being associated with Native Americans.
Last Mother’s Day, Frank joined some Florida state officials on a flight to the south where they were attending a powwow as well as a tribal council convention. In the meeting, they carried along them some gifts that included basketball uniforms for women. Also, some students who are members of the Frank’s Seminole class carry on internships with the tribe. In the case that Rolle wanted to use his football stature to begin a project, he was advised to venture into the Seminole tribe to upkeep accuracy and gather the tribes permissions (Staurowsky 73). Rolle also found out that his brother, McKinley who is a football coach for a Florida high school, had graduated from St. John’s in New York who had changed its school mascot in 1994 from the Redmen to the Red Storm. With that action, many other schools followed after for years of a nickname exodus that included names changes such as the Indians to the Big Green as well as the Redskins to the Redhawks. In the elimination of stereotypes, a change of name makes it remarkably easier to fight the stereotypes that continue today.
A film at the Indian museum of Big Cypress concludes that the Indians are still the unconquered Seminoles. This was partly influenced by the fact that they were less than five hundred in number by the end of 1800. The fandom in the Florida state does not flood the town. Even on a day that there are games, only some few Florida state banners can be seen on a single house in the whole afternoon even when one tribal leader has an indoors mural that features a Seminole that holds a dead Gator. Some people thought of the tribe as a traditional one but presently, they are as modernized as any other people (Springwood 59).
Congressional laws are being passed and their objective is to bring to an end the injustices against the Indians. In other words, these laws and resolutions are meant to liberate the Indians from the warship nature of the United States Government. What the laws and regulations did specifically was to eliminate the federal recognized statuses of tribes as well as their sovereignty and also force the sell-off of tribal land and assets.
The Florida state has sustained its status as the Seminole of the United States of America since the year 1947. Additionally, the city has also had a relationship with the Seminole tribe in Florida for multiple years. This status was, however, solidified most recently in 2005, when a resolution was passed that called the Native Americans mascots as abusive and hostile. Schools that have these mascots were as well prohibited from hosting events within the school programs. The Seminole Florida tribe additionally gave out their permission to make use of the Osceola as the mascot. The choice to give permission to the universities in Florida to mock native culture was, however disputed and the war chant was not deemed logical as well.

Works Cited

King, C. Richard, and Charles Fruehling Springwood, eds. Team Spirits: The Native American Mascots Controversy. U of Nebraska Press, 2001.

Springwood, Charles Fruehling. "“I’m Indian too!” Claiming Native American identity, crafting authority in mascot debates." Journal of Sport and Social Issues 28.1 (2004): 56-70.

Staurowsky, Ellen J. "“You Know, We Are All Indian” Exploring White Power and Privilege in Reactions to the NCAA Native American Mascot Policy." Journal of Sport and Social Issues 31.1 (2007): 61-76.