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Letters
American Indians shouldn't be used as sports mascots
As an American Indian, I can understand how Catholics feel when they see the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence dressing as nuns and going through their antics. Catholics must feel as though they and their religion are being mocked and ridiculed.
I feel the same way every time a school uses my religious symbols and caricatures of Indians as part of their sports program. I would like to point out that some Catholic schools still have Indian mascots where cheerleaders, song girls and supporters dress up in feathers and war paint to play Indian. Catholics do not seem to see this practice as ridiculing Indians, their religious symbols and their culture, but we do!
Native peoples have been trying to change this practice since the 1960s. If the Catholic church's objections to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are to be taken seriously, they should require all of their schools to drop the use of Indian mascots. This would truly honor Indians and their culture. It is not an honor to my people to be used as mascots.
Native people are especially concerned over the psychological effect on American Indian children who see themselves and their ancestors portrayed as "mascots" in the same way that other schools use animals as mascots. Studies have shown that continued and pervasive exposure of American Indian youth to demeaning images of themselves results in low self-esteem and a lack of pride in themselves, their culture and their ancestral heritage.
Our religious symbols are just as sacred to American Indians as the Catholic's religious symbols are to them.
Sylvia Machamer
Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation,
Cupertino
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
