{"id":65085,"date":"2018-05-08T08:02:17","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T08:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=65085"},"modified":"2018-05-08T08:59:11","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T08:59:11","slug":"robert-wood-johnson-foundation-honored-sports-teams-racist-mascots-not-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/robert-wood-johnson-foundation-honored-sports-teams-racist-mascots-not-anymore.html","title":{"rendered":"Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: We honored sports teams with racist mascots. Not anymore."},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: We honored sports teams with racist mascots. Not anymore.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ve never heard of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. There\u2019s an even better chance you\u2019ve never heard of the RWJF Sports Award, which we bestow each year on organizations that contribute to health by strengthening and serving communities through sport.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as readers of USA TODAY, you\u2019re no doubt familiar with the controversies and divisions surrounding sports teams that use Native American symbols \u2014 whether as mascots, in chants or in memorabilia \u2014 for their own purposes. The pro football teams in Washington and Kansas City instantly come to mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our foundation, tucked away in the outskirts of Princeton, N.J., has over the past year unwittingly become part of the problem by using the RWJF Sports Award to honor teams that denigrate American Indian people. We didn\u2019t consider the fact that the team names, mascots and misappropriation and mocking of sacred symbols like headdresses do real damage to the health of people across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the nation\u2019s largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health, this is a humbling moment that showed us how much we have to learn. But it\u2019s also a powerful reminder that in 2018, people and organizations with the best intentions are still playing catch-up on issues of race, ethnicity and gender. If a foundation that strives to see everything through the lens of health, wellness and equity \u2014 as we do \u2014 is getting a core health issue so wrong, it\u2019s worth asking ourselves what else we as a society are missing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Health and racism<\/span><\/p>\n

Though one might not think of racism and discrimination as factors in health, the clear science tells us otherwise. They impact the physical, emotional and psychological health of people, especially children.<\/span><\/p>\n

More specifically, research shows deep psychological consequences caused by the perpetuation of American Indian stereotypes \u2014 whether they are deemed \u201coffensive\u201d or not. As University of Washington researcher Stephanie Fryberg and colleagues found, \u201cAmerican Indian mascots are harmful because they remind American Indians of the limited ways others see them and, in this way, constrain how they can see themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So one would expect a major health philanthropy to be speaking out against derogatory language and images. Instead, the 2017 RWJF Sports Award recognized as finalists the football teams in Washington and Kansas City, and the foundation became party to injustice and the mistreatment of an entire group of people \u2014 a failure that echoes our nation\u2019s struggles to heal centuries-old trauma and right historic wrongs. In short, we got an important health issue wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

The national conversation surrounding the use of mascots has been percolating for years, particularly in our nation\u2019s capital, but the status quo has held firm. A 2016 Washington Post survey found that 90% of the Native Americans polled weren\u2019t offended by the Washington football team\u2019s name.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as Jacqueline Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, aptly puts it, Native American resilience does not give the team a pass. We also understand that team owner Daniel Snyder won a trademark battle against five American Indian petitioners in the court of law, with the Supreme Court ruling that even a derogatory trademark enjoys First Amendment protections.<\/span><\/p>\n

More: Amy Wax said black students can’t excel in law school. Bless her heart, we can and do.<\/span><\/p>\n

POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media<\/span><\/p>\n

Our foundation operates by a different standard than the sports team in Washington. Today, and moving forward, RWJF will not consider an application to our Sports Award if it is submitted by an entity whose name, brand or practices denigrates, harms or discriminates against any racial or ethnic group. We recognize that organizations as large and influential as ours must own our mistakes and vow to do better<\/span><\/p>\n

The outrage that greeted the announcement of the 2017 RWJF Sports Award finalists came quickly. Pata told us she was \u201cdevastated\u201d when she heard about the finalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRWJF had always been about health and well-being and working with Indian Country in a spirit of community,\u201d she said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t reconcile that history with this decision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Listening to Pata\u2019s concerns, along with many other voices, was the beginning of a process of acknowledging our blind spots, confronting our biases, learning how our decisions impact people in Indian Country, and reflecting on what we could do differently. We could no longer ignore the way everyday injustices impact the health and well-being of people like a young man we met over the course of our dialogue with the Native American community. He said his high school peers mock and disparage him, even today, with painful barbs: \u201cDo you still live in teepees? Do you use tomahawks? Do you even have Wi-Fi?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Big, lasting change \u2014 whether it\u2019s cultivating widespread equity or confronting racism and discrimination \u2014 requires countless small steps, often over many years, by people across our society. It requires conversations that \u201chappen in a healing way, not a fighting way,\u201d as Pata graciously told us. It requires individuals to change their hearts and large institutions like ours to change our ways. It requires all of us to keep listening, learning and looking in the mirror.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is how I hope our country can one day be a place where everyone has a fair opportunity for health and well-being, and it\u2019s the only way we stand a chance of bringing healing to our fractured nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/opinion\/2018\/05\/07\/kansas-city-chiefs-washington-redskins-racist-mascots-football-rwjf-sports-award-column\/584858002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t