Cultural Appropriation, part N

[ravan]

Which of these sports team names is *not* cultural appropriation?

A. Minnesota Vikings
B. Cleveland Indians
C. Washington Redskins
D. Boston Celtics
E. Golden State Warriors

If you guessed A, D and E, you are biased toward Native Americans. The best answer is E, since multiple cultures and tribes from Europe, America and Asia have warriors, although using "warriors" along with native american caricatures is still offensive.

My point? Just because the culture in question is a so called "white" culture doesn't mean that it's symbols can be misappropriated for trivial purposes that they weren't intended. European culture is not monolithic, and many of us are trying to reclaim the pre-christian cultures from the bland hodgepodge that passes for "western" culture.

By the way, if there's so much equal opportunity borging going on in the sports world, why aren't teams names Samurai, Sikh, and other things?

Comments

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely not crazy about the Boston Celtics, they not only misappropriated the name - They MisProunounce IT! With a soft c instead of the K sound. Very Annoying!

I am proud to be a UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug! We're Back! We went through a name change when one chancelor felt that Banana Slug wasn't an appropriate mascot. He left, we changed it back. :)

And I'm also a fan of the San Jose Sharks!