More than mascots

Dear Editor,

Investing more time than it deserves ["Team mascots should be fun for everyone" (http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1113778.html)]?

Where once Native Americans were 100 percent of the US population, they are now reduced to less than 3 percent of the present day population.

The culture has had to evolve and their ideas about where they stand in the world has evolved.

Nowhere in any Native worldview have I heard that they aspired to become the mascot, logo, or nickname of a non-Native sports team. To insinuate that we should be 'honored" to recognized as sidekicks to a pastime is ludicrous.

We have spent more than enough time battling the genocidal policies of this nation to be reduced to mere mention as a halftime event. Natives have lobbied the NCAA for years to have these names removed from the playing field. At the beginning of this century the president of the American Psychological Association wrote a letter to the University of North Dakota decrying this spectacle.

It is past time that America honors Natives for their contributions to this society, not by naming sports teams after them, but by honestly recognizing their contributions to this land.

Al White

Winnebago