Opinion
Opinion: Policy ignores racism in Indian mascots


"Don't get me wrong, I found it more than a little heartening that the NCAA finally engaged the issue as a matter of organizational policy, recognizing (in a decidedly limited fashion) the import of power and process to the pleasures of play. The new policy, however, should not in my estimation be read as an anti-racist intervention. Quite the contrary, the so-called ban is something of a half-measure, a compromise (and compromised) position. It does little to highlight institutional racism, and refuses once more to reflect upon its own culpability.

The NCAA opts to frame the problem with Native American mascots in terms of hostility and abusiveness. I would concur that such imagery hurts and terrorizes people, normalizing, if not celebrating, forms of symbolic and systematic violence, which in this instance perpetuate hundreds of years of colonization and racialization.

This is not, however, what many Americans understand the new policy to be saying. As the NCAA policy makers speak about offensive attitudes and acts directed by misguided individuals at innocent victims, they reduce institutional racism to feelings, motivations, and affronts, making it an individual problem rather than a systemic one. The NCAA's ban individualizes and psychologizes social conditions and cultural systems, encouraging a kind therapeutic anti-racism that selectively treats a predefined and overdetermined "problem," not its historical foundations or lived manifestations."

Get the Story:
C. Richard King: It's a White Man's Game: Racism, Native American Mascots, And The NCAA (Black Athlete Sports Network 10/2)

NCAA Policy:
NCAA Executive Committee Issues Guidelines for Use of Native American Mascots at Championship Events (August 5, 2005)

Related Stories:
UND won't be taken off NCAA's Indian mascot list (09/29)
School won't fight NCAA policy, moves to change name (09/28)
Column: NCAA misses again on extension of policy (09/22)
NCAA extends mascot policy to division bowl games (9/21)
Opinion: Mascots dehumanize Native Americans (9/16)
Opinion: Mascots a stereotype of Native Americans (9/16)
Tim Giago: NCAA loses its spine on mascot policy (09/13)
Column: Haskell football coach against Indian mascots (09/09)
Editorial: NCAA backed into corner on mascot policy (8/29)
Opinion: Mascots are racist, plain and simple (8/29)
Seminole Lawyer: Tribes should work with mascots (8/29)
Tribes set to oppose 'Fighting Sioux' nickname (8/29)
Editorial: Not every mascot is 'hostile' or 'abusive' (8/26)
UND president wavers on tribal support for 'Sioux' (8/26)
Illinois village seeks to bring back Indian head (8/26)
Editorial: Native activists have empty, wooden heads (8/25)
Choctaw Nation chief has no problem with 'Savages' (8/25)
Column: Naming teams after Indians not a good idea (8/25)
Editorial: Tribes have final say in mascot decisions (8/25)
Column: University of Utah must connect with tribe (8/25)
CMU preparing to appeal decision on 'Chippewas' (8/25)
NCAI president worried about shift in NCAA stance (8/24)
NCAA exempts FSU 'Seminoles' from mascot policy (8/24)
Other universities encouraged by NCAA decision (8/24)
CMU to cite support of tribe for 'Chippewas' nickname (8/23)
Column: William & Mary 'Tribe' name harmless (8/23)
Editorial: NCAA deserves credit for mascot policy (8/22)
Column: Indians are heroes, so why not mascots? (8/22)
Column: Indians not offended by Indian mascots (8/22)
Editorial: Celebrate real Indians, not mascots (8/19)
Military commands eliminate use of Indian terms (8/19)
Column: It's time to bring an end to 'Redskins' (8/19)
Column: How about the Washington Blackfaces? (8/19)
Editorial: Trust fund or mascots? Pick just one (8/18)
Opinion: 'Fighting Sioux' nickname hurts Natives (8/18)
Opinion: 'Fighting Sioux' nickname hurts Natives (8/18)
Continued reaction to NCAA policy on mascots (8/17)
Tim Giago: Censor tribes for supporting mascots (8/17)
FSU once used drunk 'Chief Fullabull' as mascot (8/17)
Column: Nazi-loving Ralph keeps Indian logo alive (8/17)
University of Illinois trustee blasts NCAA policy (8/17)
Panel to decide fate of SOSU 'Savages' mascot (8/17)
Even more reaction to the NCAA policy on mascots (8/16)
FSU trustee apologizes to Seminole Nation (8/16)
Editorial: FSU leaders insulted Seminole people (8/16)
Schools appeal NCAA policy on Indian mascots (8/15)
Reaction to NCAA mascot policy still rolling in (8/15)
Bad Eagle: NCAA doesn't care what Indians think (8/15)
Harjo: Hanging onto mascots, toys of racism (8/12)
Still more reaction to NCAA policy on mascots (8/11)
Editorial: NCAA policy a step in the right direction (8/11)
Opinion: NCAA on the warpath against mascots (8/11)
NCAA President: Taking the high road on mascots (8/11)
NCAA will ask TV stations not to use mascot names (8/11)
North Dakota governor criticizes NCAA policy (8/11)
FSU trustees approve fight for 'Seminoles' mascot (8/11)
Saginaw Chippewa Tribe calls policy 'unacceptable' (8/11)
Local high school league won't take up mascot issue (8/11)
Even more reaction to NCAA policy on mascots (8/10)
Editorial: Good riddance to 'demeaning' mascots (8/10)
Jeb Bush calls mascot policy 'offensive' to tribe (8/10)
University of Utah mulls position on 'Utes' (8/10)
More reaction to NCAA's new policy on Indian mascots (8/9)
FSU wants policy changed to allow 'Seminoles' (8/9)
Utah 'Utes' among the names on NCAA's mascot hit list (8/9)
'Fighting Sioux' arena contains thousands of logos (8/9)
NCAA announces revised Indian mascot policy (8/8)
Mixed reaction to change in use of mascots (8/8)
NCAA committee to take up Indian mascots (8/3)
TV stations challenged on use of 'Redskins' name (07/22)
Giago: Seminole Tribe wrong on Indian mascots (07/19)
Appeals court keeps 'Redskins' lawsuit alive (07/18)
Opinion: Changing mascots is a waste of time (07/15)
Mascots not only an issue for Native Americans (7/14)
Opinion: It's time for racist mascots to go (7/14)
Seminole Tribe doesn't have problem with mascots (07/05)
NCAA committee won't call for ban on Indian mascots (6/28)
Seminole Nation opposes FSU's 'Seminoles' mascot (6/23)
Seminole Tribe supports FSU's 'Seminoles' mascot (6/21)
Editorial: Not all 'Indian' mascots are offensive (05/31)
Harjo: NCAA should ban all 'Native' imagery (5/27)
FSU defends use of 'Seminole' mascot in NCAA letter (05/17)
Schools defend Indian mascots in reports to NCAA (5/16)
Editorial: UND's 'Fighting Sioux' report not truthful (05/06)
FSU preparing report on use of 'Seminole' mascot (04/29)
Virginia tribe not offended by school's nickname (04/26)
Saginaw Chippewa Tribe supports CMU nickname (04/13)
Drunk Student: Chief Illiniwek is not offensive to Natives (04/07)
Group protests university's 'Fighting Sioux' name (03/28)
UNC-Pembroke stands by its 'Braves' nickname (03/09)
UND asked to study 'Fighting Sioux' name again (02/17)