Get Involved.
Imagining The Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting is a Call To Action to join the fight against the use of Native American Mascots.
- There are currently 3 professional teams with Native American Mascots – the NFL’s Kansas City Football Team, the MLB’s Atlanta Baseball Team, and the NHL’s Chicago Hockey Team.
- Additionally, there are close to 2000 secondary schools across the United States who still have Native American Mascots.
You can join the fight against Native American Mascoting!
Below, you’ll find organizations that are currently leading the fight. We’re fond of saying that “teamwork makes the dream work,” and we encourage you to join the team to end this harmful practice. Together, we can put an end to Native American Mascoting.
Not In Our Honor
Rhonda LeValdo (Acoma Pueblo)
Imagining The Indian Interviewee
Rhonda LeValdo (Acomo Pueblo) is the co-founder of Not In Our Honor, an organization based in Kansas and Missouri. Not In Our Honor was formed in 2005 by a group of Native American College students at the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University. They have continued to advocate against the use of Native American imagery in sports.
Az to Rally/No More Native Mascots
Amanda Blackhorse (Diné)
Imagining The Indian Interviewee
Amanda Blackhorse (Diné) is the co-found of Az to Rally / No More Native Mascots. Based in Arizona, Az To Rally / No More Native Mascots are a group of Indigenous advocates in the southwest region who seek to confront the colonization of the identities of Indigenous people.
KC Indian Center
Gaylene Crouser (Standing Rock Sioux)
Imagining The Indian Interviewee
Gaylene Crouser (Standing Rock Sioux) is the Executive Director of the Kansas City Indian Center. Based in Kansas City, MO, Kansas City Indian Center seeks to encourage social, educational, and economic advancement of the American Indian community by promoting traditional and cultural values. They partner with Not In Our Honor.
Rebrand Racist Mascots
Josh Silver
Imagining The Indian Interviewee
Josh Silver is a co-founder of Rebrand Racist Mascots. Based in Washington, DC, Rebrand Racist Mascots is a grassroots advocacy group that achieved victory when the Washington football team changed its name but now we are fighting other racist mascots.
National Congress of American Indians
As the nation’s oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native advocacy organization, National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) has long held a clear position against derogatory and harmful stereotypes of Native people – including sports mascots – in media and popular culture. Since NCAI launched its campaign to address stereotypes of Native people in popular culture, media, and sports in 1968, significant progress has been made in pursuit of ending the era of “Indian” mascots.
National Indian Education Association
The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) advances comprehensive, culture-based educational opportunities for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. The Imagining The Indian Film Team has partnered with NIEA to develop educational curriculum that will be available to educators and students via PBS Learning Media.
We are a
community of
advocates.
Join the Fight!
‘It’s a public health issue’: inside the fight to change Native American mascots
The documentary film-maker Ben West hails from Washington DC, and thus grew up rooting for its football team. He wore the gear, watched the games, cheered on an organization named for a slur against Native Americans. Even as a kid, West, who is Cheyenne, felt the dissonance between the team he rooted for and the supposedly “honorific” idea it represented – that Native Americans were a symbol of war and violence, a costume to be donned in the name of gladiatorial sport. “Is that me on that helmet?” he recalled thinking. “Is that me on that jersey? And does that name have anything to do with me?”
Ahead of Super Bowl, filmmakers challenge ‘honor’ of Kansas City Chiefs name, Native mascots: ‘We are not OK with this’
As hundreds of thousands of football fans descend on Las Vegas for the Super Bowl this weekend, many Native American football fans will be bracing themselves for a familiar scenario they know, well, all too well — that is, tomahawk chops, plastic feather war bonnets and non-Native people beating a drum mimicking the same instrument used in sacred tribal ceremonies and celebrations.
That’s because going head-to-head Sunday with the San Francisco 49ers is a team that represents the last NFL holdout — and one of three remaining professional sports teams — to use Native American imagery in not only its team name but also its in-stadium practices: the Kansas City Chiefs. Read More
“It’s time for a reckoning.”
“This is an important subject and an important film.”
“Racial slurs shouldn’t be a regular part of everyday conversations, let alone cherished and institutionalized. It’s time for sports fans to open their eyes.”
Tribal Council
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation
Northern California
Committed to
Our Mission
Our goal is to raise awareness of the issue of Native American Mascoting, expand the understanding, and appreciation, of Native American culture, and empower a movement towards widespread social sensitivity.
Meet Our Supporters
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We appreciate your shared committment to ensuring this message reaches the masses.
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation
Lead Executive Producer | Website
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
Executive Producer | Website
Jessica and Steve Sarowitz
Co-Executive Producer
Aviva Kempner
Director & Producer | View Bio
Ben West
Director & Producer | View Bio
Sam Bardley
Producer | View Bio
Kevin Blackistone
Producer | View Bio
Barbara Ballow
Editor | View Bio
Yancey Burns
Producer | View Bio
Contact the Filmmakers
Expand your image of the Native American!