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Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, a group of Native parents and their allies have created a Change.org petition calling for the end of the use of racial slurs and racist mascots in sports.
The group got its start organizing online to file FCC Obscenity Complaints during Washington Redsk*ns games. It was during one of these games that a photo appeared on Facebook that showed a Belton, Missouri Sonic Drive-in sign that said, “KC Chiefs will Scalp the Redsk*ns Feed them Whiskey Send – 2 – Reservation.” The group quickly began demanding via Twitter and Facebook posts that the sign be taken down and that Sonic Corp based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma apologize. The sign was taken down and the parents received an apology from Sonic.
EONM launched its own hashtag #NotYourMascot during the Super Bowl after the more commonly used anti-Redsk*ns hashtag #changethename” was appropriated by spammers to sell real estate. With the help of a coalition of supporters on Twitter, including Suey Park, the social media activist responsible for “NotYourAsianSidekick,” and striking artwork from artist Douglas Miles (San Carlos Apache) of WhatTRIBE they trended #NotYourMascot during the Super Bowl. They also tweeted the National Congress of American Indian’s video “Proud to Be” with the hashtag, garnering nearly 500,000 views for the video opposing the use of Redsk*n as a team name.
Last week, during the Oscars the group also trended #NotYourTonto in protest of The Lone Ranger’s nomination for makeup, calling it an award for “Redface” and asked if a film featuring white actors in Yellowface or Blackface would be nominated in 2014.
The group’s focus on Redface began with the antics of fans dressing up as “Indians” at games and using cultural items that are important to Native people, like Eagle Feather Headdresses, while drinking beer and performing stereotypical cheers like “Scalp ‘em” and war chants in stadiums.
The petition which states, “I strongly oppose the use of native imagery and racial slurs as team mascots and nicknames. These displays are in no way ‘honoring’ any Native American, living or deceased,” was created in answer to a call to action put out by the National Congress of American Indians to challenge recent statements made by the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s recent statements about the mascot issue. NCAI represents hundreds of tribes across the country and calls Goodell’s assertions that most Native people support the mascot “weak and baseless”. Resolutions, letters and this petition will be presented at NCAI’s Winter Executive Session next week in Washington, DC
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