A new study shows that when a Native American mascot is removed, there is bias against them.
Research shows that Native American mascots are harmful to the self-esteem of Native youth. Several college and professional teams have removed their mascots.
The Cleveland Indians decided to stop using their mascot, "Chief Wahoo," and many racist reactions were seen, according to the lead author of two studies in the journal Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. This research tries to understand why some people do this.
More than 2,000 mascots in the US today are references to Indigenous terms and images, including the Atlanta Braves, who gained renewed attention during the World Series.
The University of Illinois discontinued its Chief Illiniwek mascot in 2007, and the Cleveland Indians removed their Chief Wahoo mascot in the year of the new studies. The Cleveland Indians changed their name to the Guardians during the 2021 season.
The studies explored the role of two related beliefs, namely racial colorblindness and the idea that race has no bearing on decisions or events.
Two online studies were used for the research. In the first, only a small amount of participants from Ohio and Maryland were recruited, and there were two mascot-related developments.
The Cleveland Indians had just removed their mascot, while the Washington Redskins had just announced they would continue to use their name and mascot. The Washington football team dropped their name and logo in 2020.
The study posed a fictional legal dilemma for participants to read about, which were either committed by a Native American at either the Cleveland ballpark or Maryland stadium, or by a group of people who were upset with the price of tickets. Each participant was assigned a reading and asked to recommend bail for the arrested person.
Ohio residents set the highest bail in the Cleveland case, which was substantially higher than the other scenarios and compared to participants from other locations. Maryland residents set a slightly higher bail for the case in their home state than they did in Cleveland or Kansas City.
The findings show that prejudice against Native Americans might increase in areas where a mascot has been removed.
The second study relied on hundreds of thousands of responses from Project Implicit, an online platform for collecting data about bias and educating about prejudice and stereotypes, co-created by Tony Greenwald, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington. Project Implicit covers bias against Native Americans.
The year before and after the removal of Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois was used as a subset for the study.
After the removal of Chief Illiniwek from Illinois, prejudice against Native Americans increased among residents of all other states.
The NCAA made the decision to stop the mascot because it banned any team with a Native American mascot from appearing on TV.
Evidence of anti-Native American prejudice in Illinois declined over time, suggesting that a spike in such attitudes following the removal of a mascot might not last, according to the authors.
The increase in racism should not be seen as a reason to keep Native American mascots. The findings could inform how to approach removing mascots.
Sports teams have been using Native mascots for decades. The findings suggest that more needs to be done.
We should prepare for backlash by removing harmful mascots and by developing prejudice reduction interventions and directing resources to Native people.
The University of Missouri has additional coauthors.
The University of Washington is located there.
