Guest Column | Native mascots are harmful, offensive to Native peoples

Editor’s note: The Walt Disney Company on March 17 allowed Texas high school students to mock Native culture during a performance at Disney World last week. The Port Neches Grove High School drill team chanted “scalp ’em Indians, scalp ’em” during their performance at the park, among other things.

Disney spokesperson Jacquee Wahler said in the statement, “The live performance in our park did not reflect our core values, and we regret it took place. It was not consistent with the audition tape the school provided and we have immediately put measures in place so this is not repeated.”

Crystal Echo Hawk, founder and executive director of IllumiNative, a Native woman-led nonprofit dedicated to battling the erasure, invisibility and toxic misconceptions of Native Americans by elevating contemporary Native voices, stories and issues, issued the following statement.

We are deeply outraged that the Port Neches Grove High School drill team was given a platform at Disney World to celebrate and normalize ignorance, racism, and hate towards Native peoples.

During their performance, students from this school were allowed to chant “scalp em” and mock and caricaturize Native peoples.

This high school, like thousands of other public schools across the country, perpetuates a harmful ecosystem and culture of racism and bigotry by clinging onto a stolen “identity” that grossly mocks Native cultures.

Native mascots are harmful and offensive to Native peoples and especially for Native youth who attend these public schools.

Contrary to the opinions expressed by the school’s administrators, the use of Native mascots does not honor Native people – it’s an empty excuse to justify their continued racist actions.

In recent studies, 65% of Native youth were polled as being opposed to the use of Native mascots. Studies and organizations like the American Psychological Association have denounced the use of Native mascots because of the harmful impact on the mental, physical, and emotional health of Native youth.

Ending practices that harm children should not be a divisive or difficult issue and yet there are thousands of public schools around the country that continue to actively and purposefully harm Native youth by “playing Indian” and worst of all, emboldening non-Native students to be racist and hateful against Native youth.

By giving them a platform, Disney has validated and amplified their message of racism and hate.

We are also shocked and disappointed at the ignorance and negligence of Disney World staff and executives who allowed Port Neches Grove High School to perform and chant hate speech at the park.

Given that Disney staff requested the school cheerleaders, called “indianettes,” not use their “headdresses,” it’s clear there was knowledge that the Native mascot was part of the school’s performance. This is a clear indication of a lack of training, procedures, and standards that prevent offensive acts and displays from happening at Disney World.

We urge public schools across the country to end the use of Native mascots and call on Disney World to implement the necessary procedures to ensure incidents like this don’t occur again.

Native mascots don’t belong at the “Happiest Place on Earth”, nor in cities, K-12 schools, colleges, or professional sports.

Racism is racism and we should not allow it anywhere.

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