Honoring our fallen animated sports icons
Gone but not forgotten, we want to preserve sports mascots for the sake of history. Whether you are for or against the offensive nature they displayed, these precious spirits of competition were cast out by a minute population of unnecessarily vocal meanies … who then convinced everyone else they should disregard the courageous and ferocious team spirit each represented. Some of them truly were bad, a poor choice of the times --that former Syracuse Orangemen logo definitely had to go. The one to it's left is the original Syracuse Chiefs international league baseball team logo --also not the best choice. What the hell is in the drinking water of that city?
Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians wasn't much better, but mascots of the Washington Redskins and Kansas City Chiefs NFL football teams, along with that of Chicago Blackhawks NHL hockey fame, were selected intentionally to honor the legacy of Native American peoples, not to appropriate their culture or make fun of a perceived stereotype.
What about that white guy depicting a character of violence and brutality? How many caucasians were bent out of shape, crying "foul" when that was used in Pittsburgh? Answer: none.
Ralph Lauren --If you're looking for an offensive logo, this might be it. Can you say "white entitlement"?
Black Panthers --If a ferocious image of a Native American warrior is wrongfully appropriating culture, is this doing the same of African Americans? How many years before someone decides this is being used in a negative manner?
Mississippi's Ole Colonel Reb, Curry College's Colonel and UNLV's Rebel are all considered racist imagery today. Unfortunately, destroying and discarding these from our history communicates to future citizen's the wrong message. These were not selected for some racist overtone they carried, instead they were used to depict a ferocious fighting spirit, the same as a jaguar, lion or honey badger for other teams. Should they be replaced, probably so. Should they be forgotten? Absolutely not, and that's why this page exists.
The effort didn't end with just sports:
Uncle Ben, maker of great tasting rice (he was a real person with a magnificent recipe, which is why and how the product got its name) has also been dropped. Aunt Jamima was used as a negative stereotype but also came about based on a real person whom people loved … in real life! Finally, there is the wonderful Butter Maiden of Land O Lakes. We grew up admiring this icon as a representative of honest to goodness wholesome freshness. How is that suddenly wrong? Who did she offend, and how?
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