Congrats, Blackhawks! Now get rid of that mascot. Not a single other team in the NHL is named after Native Americans. There are plenty in other major sports leagues, but in hockey, none. There is not a single other NHL team that takes an entire group of people and packages them into a mute mascot.

Read this great post on why Native American mascots aren’t harmless traditions: http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/2010/06/thanks-for-severed-head-youve-proved-my.html#more

One of the best parts of it points out that these mascots and their attendant imagery as bloodthirsty savages has a devastating effect on the psyche of Native American youth across the country. I know the majority population of the States tends to think of Native Americans as wiped out a century ago, but they are alive and well. If ever there were a time to actually think of the children instead of doing useless hand-wringing, this is a good one.

My dad went to University of Illinois, and I know he has a lot of fond memories of attending Illini games, wearing the Chief insignia on his shirts, doing the Illini chant. But those are memories anyone can have with their college sports team; K College students got pretty excited about a giant hornet. You don’t need to appropriate an entire group of people, their history, their culture, their stereotyped image, and make them into a symbol of how fierce, tough, and primitively warrior-like your sports team is. Use an eagle or something.

So Blackhawks, congratulations on your historic win. How about you make more history and change your mascot? Heck, you could even change your name to the Hawks; it’s what everyone calls you anyway. It’s not like you’ll lose your winning reputation — your name will always be more intimidating than the Pittsburgh Penguins.

ETA: I had a conversation with my coworker Branden about this post, and he pointed out how important Black Hawk is to the history of Illinois. I tried to clarify:

“The thing is (which maybe I need to be clearer about) is that there are a lot of things that are important to one group’s history, but that doesn’t mean that that group should be allowed to claim those things for everyone’s history. For example, the Confederate flag is important to a lot of white southerners as a symbol of independence and regional pride. It’s also a symbol of brutal violence, humiliation, and slavery to a lot of black southerners. Claiming the Confederate flag for Georgia, for example, on the state courthouse or whatever, is claiming it for all Georgians, and basically saying, ‘The independence/pride part is more important than the violence/humiliation/slavery part.’ Which is just wrong.

“Black Hawk is an important symbol to some, but to others is part of a long line of mascots that remind Native Americans that they are just symbols of savagery for major league sports teams. You can balance the legacy of Black Hawk with the pride of a sports team without doing that.”

Branden replied: “I wonder what the Sauk tribe thinks about it — I don’t know. They’d be the ones I’d primarily want to hear from. And if they find it offensive, then shoot, call the team the Hawks, like you said. They already have a badass Hawk logo they can use.”

And then he provided this awesome link: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_r8tWGVHrjGI/SHPrp67Fv8I/AAAAAAAAE1I/DwFl7Nff5SY/s320/chicagologo.png