As I was reading about cultural appropriation, many of the situations found were about sports teams and their chosen mascot. This is interesting to me as I coach many sports, watch many sports and am overall interested in the world of sports. At school, our mascot is a warrior and it was only around 7 years ago that the logo for this mascot was changed from an Indigenous person in a traditional head dress to an arrow with feathers hanging off of it. This was before my time but apparently there was work completed with Indigenous folks and Elders in the community to ensure the use of the arrow and feather was appropriate for our school. There are so many examples of this within sports communities:
- Cleveland Indians are now the Cleveland Guardians (baseball) https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-chief-wahoos-removal-a-blow-against-cultural-appropriation
- Edmonton Eskimos are now the Edmonton Elk (football) https://globalnews.ca/news/7201833/edmonton-eskimos-football-team-name-change/
- Washington Redskins are now the Washington Commanders (football) https://hhsepitaph.com/10670/sports/nfl-team-rebranded-washington-football-team-in-response-to-cultural-appropriation/
- Kansas City Chiefs… not renamed however changed their mascot (football) https://www.npr.org/2021/07/27/1021373125/kansas-city-chiefs-removed-their-offensive-mascot-but-have-no-plans-to-change-na
- Chicago Blackhawks have no plans to change their name (hockey) https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2899256-blackhawks-wont-change-name-plan-to-raise-awareness-of-native-american-culture
With so many examples of this appropriation in high profile organizations, it’s no wonder that the issue of cultural appropriation needs to constantly be addressed with our students and in our communities. After realizing how much of Indigenous culture is appropriated, I feel as though the section in my final project Cultural appropriation vs. appreciation will be an important one.