Mascot Response

The potential research question that the author most likely started prior to this research was “Are mascots that represent Native American tribes offensive to their culture and ethnicity?”  This article talks about how Native American mascots at various colleges bring up a controversial issue because a lot of times the schools don’t know the history or origin of the tribe, they just use it as their mascot name.  The purpose of this article is to address this problem and to bring up the point so that it will make people think about it.  His research helps him to back up his point because he has a lot of good points and it really makes the reader think about the issue.  A lot of people would have never even thought twice about a mascot posing a problem but the research he uses to back up his claims really helps to make the reader think about the problem and consider their stand on the issue.  I really found it interesting reading about the class that Florida State offers about the history of the Seminoles.  The questions that the teacher says that he brings up in class such as “What is it inside of us that makes us identify ourselves one way or another?” or “What external factors play into identity?” really help to reinstate the author’s point that this is something that we really should think about.