Did you ever look at your team's mascot and wonder who was inside? Or punch a giant Mickey Mouse or Barney in the stomach and run away? Mascot's are meant to be abused and ridiculed. For example, imagine a lion mascot that represents a school's hockey team. They consider the lion a valuable team supporter. The lion is supposed to encourage the team and revive hope when they're down. In a way, it represents their achievements; the respect the lion is given shows the amount of respect the team has gained by triumphing over others. The mascot is the team's pride. In order to damage the team's pride and insult them, enemies resort to beating up the mascot. Mascot's are bullied and pushed around when people are frustrated and need something/someone to deflect their anger at. Therefore, mascots should never be given a discriminating image, because this would turn the semi-harmless abuse and ridicule of a mascot into a hate crime.
However, there are some ignorant teams who do not realize the true consequences of their disrespectful actions. For example, the "Washington Bloodthirsty Savages"
Having an ethnic identity as your team mascot is practically like making fun of them, i.e. racist and discriminating. Should it be acceptable? Should there be a law? Is it justified? Supporters of Native American mascots often say the team names are a sign of respect, but they cannot see beyond their own attachment to these emblems to realize that the names and images demean an entire ethnic group and its culture.
Even a young high school student writes out against offensive, demeaning Native American school mascots:
Unless you want this to be the next scenario, say NO to RACISM and degrading mascots!
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