Native American Mascot Controversy Takes Center Stage at the National Museum of the American Indian

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presents “Racist Stereotypes and Cultural Appropriation in American Sports,” a symposium and community conversation Thursday, Nov. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. in the museum’s Rasmuson Theater in Washington, D.C.

The series of panel discussions will feature scholars, commentators, authors and representatives from Indian nations and the NCAA. Panelists will explore the mythology and psychology of stereotypes in sports, the history of ethnic “identity theft” and recent efforts to retire and revive “Native American” sports references at the University of Oklahoma, Stanford University, Dartmouth College and Syracuse University. The symposium advances a movement endorsed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 2001 and addressed last year by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

The symposium will be webcast live here. Webcast viewers are encouraged to participate via Facebook and Twitter by using the hashtag #RacistSportsLogos. A reception will follow in the museum’s Potomac Atrium. For more information, visit the museum’s website at www.AmericanIndian.si.edu/.

Read the entire press release HERE for more information.