| Native Americans call for advocacy against offensive mascots By M. Garlinda Burton United Methodist News Service  Native Americans on the racial justice agency of the United Methodist Church have invited members of other racial advocacy groups including the churchs ethnic minority caucuses to join their fight against the use of offensive stereotypes, images and names for U.S. sports teams. A panel of Native Americans, addressing the annual Commission on Religion and Race meeting Sept. 21, vowed to engage secular and church-related racial advocacy groups in efforts to stop the use of team names, mascots and other images by such teams as the Washington Redskins and the Atlanta Braves. In turn, commission members representing the four other United Methodist ethnic minority caucuses black American, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islanders agreed to lobby their memberships to address the mascot issue, and began planning an inter-ethnic caucus to address mutual social and moral concerns. The anti-mascot effort has gained momentum in recent years, said the Rev. Ken Deere, a Muskogee pastor and executive with the Commission on Religion and Race. Deere was one of five Native Americans who discussed the personal and societal effects of the racist, demeaning portrayal of our people. Native Americans, he said, are the landlords of this nation, yet are invisible to most of U.S. society except for stereotype logos during weekend sportscasts. Gary Metoxen Sr., an Oneida layman from DePere, Wis., said flatly: I have endured racism and stereotypes all my life, and it is time to end it. If we had teams called the pale-faces or the black-skins, we wouldnt stand for it. When we challenge the mascots, we are told that we are interfering with tradition, but I would ask you to consider whose tradition is being affected, Suanne Ware-Diaz, a Los Angeles laywoman and a Kiowa, told the racial justice commission. She and other panel members said that the use of such images and names by sports teams have historically wreaked havoc on the self-respect of Native Americans. Further, they said, it fosters racism against Native Americans today, and the young people especially are negatively affected. Ware-Diaz cited statistics that suicide and drug use among Native American youth are as much as 17 times the U.S. national average. Deere also reflected on the use of alcohol and drugs or if they cant afford it, sniffing gasoline fumes as a way for Indian kids to escape a society that demeans them. The Rev. Marion Moore-Colgan, a Mohawk from Poultney, Vt., said Native American children in her community often had been invited to wear native clothing and dance for special events. However, when the youth began raising concerns about their education and culture, and wanted to discuss their academic development, the invitations stopped coming. Geneva Foote, a retired teacher and a Kiowa from Sapulpa, Okla., told about taking tribal clothing to school for a lesson on local Native American history. The only response I got from the students and teachers was a war whoop someone yelled behind my back as I finished my presentation, she said. I decided then not to bring my clothing and things back to the school until there was an effort to teach respect for Native American people. In response, several non-Native American members of the commission agreed that the issue of derogatory portrayals should be of concern and a cause for action by the entire church. The Rev. Jacob Williams, an African-American pastor from Lafayette, Ind., urged the commission to call on all United Methodist ethnic caucuses to put the Native American mascot issue on their agendas. | 
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