The Golden State Warriors are a professional basketball team out of Oakland California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was first established in 1946, as the Philadelphia Warriors, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors used to use the Indian mascot shown at the top of the page. Though they changed their mascot to a blue man instead of the cartoon Native person, the name still remains the same. The Oakland based Golden State Warriors have drifted away from any references to its Native American past and it’s currently the only professional team to do so. I couldn’t find the exact group of people who were opposed to the mascot though I bet it was a big one. Some teams are taking the time and money to be more respectful to certain cultures.
I think that the changing of the mascot is a great thing for the team to do. Using cultures as a caricature to promote sports is insulting. If we are going to use cultures why don’t we just say the Cleveland Darkies, the Boston Niggers, or the Denver Chinks? If you’re going to use one culture in such a demeaning way why can’t you just use any and all? African Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans need to help our Native American brothers and sisters in this battle for respect and honor. Equal respect for everyone.
1 comment:
As being a Native American myself and having thought about this subject in the past. I have become less irritated by the teams that do use Native American mascots. There is a school near Denver,CO whose name is the Arapaho Warriors. After learning and hearing about how the school district went about asking permission from the Arapaho Tribe to have a mascot of an Arapaho Warrior I liked the idea that there was a school that was named after the tribe and used a warrior for their mascot. I know everyone has their own onion on the names these teams, schools, etc. choose to use, but as for me I like that some school or team would think of a naming their team after a Native American or a specific tribe.
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