Opinion

Melvin Martin: Indians still inspiring fear for White America

Monday, May 23, 2011

Indian people everywhere have told me that perhaps too much has already been analyzed, written about, and publicly debated by a multitude of activists and scholars on both sides of the American Indian mascot controversy. Or perhaps not nearly enough has been put forth, thus my thoughts and feelings on this issue as a concerned member of the American Indian community

Until just recently, I have never given much thought to the Indian mascot dispute as I have always found competitive sports in the United States to be somewhat uninteresting, especially baseball (aye!). However, I have very gradually come to believe that American sports institutions have maniacally embraced American Indian imagery because Indians are - in the collective consciousness of modern non-Indian America - something to be almost eternally feared.

To non-Indians, the American Indian is the most original and illustrative example of a lingering sense of profound fear and dread that also serves them well in terms of the politics of power and control.

And given this recent article, the proponents of American Indian mascot usage will fight tooth and nail to retain such imagery. Why?

Indian sports mascots are dramatically akin to the colorful renderings of bears, tigers, wolves and even shark teeth that have appeared on a wide assortment of U.S. combat aircraft, naval vessels, and other forms of mechanized equipment since World War II. They are all starkly produced images (and names) designed to strike a deep sense of fear into the hearts and minds of enemy forces. And then, this very recent news article further acknowledges this particular U.S. military "tradition":

Non-Indian America has always feared the American Indian as the most singularly hostile and fearsome adversary on the battlefields of Manifest Destiny. And given the unending obsession with mascot images, non-Indians consider Indians worthy antagonists on a wide range of fronts - not only on cultural, but on political and socio-economic fronts as well.

The psychodynamics of fear are clearly at work here with this obsession and I can see why these mascots are so highly prized by those individuals and institutions who are so unwilling to relinquish them despite decades of highly organized protests against them. It is the basic symbology of the American Indian as a unique and profound source of strength derived through fear that provides these people with their sense of masculinity and "warrior-hood."

And in a society where even perceived notions of strength and power and most importantly, the ability to defeat one's enemies and opponents still prevails, associating oneself with war-like Indians provides an enduring security blanket of emotional support. If a "real man" can't act like a "savage" and journey back to the cave in reality, at least his apparel and team paraphernalia can make the trip for him.

In today’s popular American culture, traditional ideals of masculinity are under a constant state of attack. "White Privilege" is eroding with every passing day as minorities, women and gay people are advancing and gaining parity at all levels of society. In this environment, the all-American (essentially white) male is indeed a threatened species. And perhaps one of the last remaining bastions of this male superiority is the world of contact sports, where a man can still “be a man” in spite of the gay team member, the black head coach or the female team trainer or owner.

The American Indian sports mascot has never been an example of honoring the so-called “character” of the American Indian, nor is it a genuinely constructed system of methods by which to specifically target America's Native people for derogatory treatment. It is merely an ancient, worn-out and deeply dysfunctional process of appropriating the impressive legacy of overwhelming fear that the Indian, in the overall mindset of white America, still possesses to a remarkable degree.

As an elder chief of a certain Central Plains tribe once remarked to me years ago: "They've taken all the best, so why not take the rest?"

Melvin Martin is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. He can be reached for comment at pbr_74@live.com