Essay On Native American Stereotypes

Despite popular belief by the majority of American society that Native American stereotypes are not as prevalent as they were in the past; Native Americans concerning present stereotypes still portrayed in modern media such as in sports and movies have brought up many controversial topics. Many of these controversies were unnoticed by Americans, mainly due to these stereotypes being long-standing “facts” or assumed accurate for the longest time. Many of these misnomers were caused by the old Western films from the 1950s, or in more recent years, sports teams such as the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians have brought many controversial political arguments to the table, another long-standing problem was products such as Land O Lakes butter, further strengthening stereotypes created from long-standing misnomers. Negative portrayals of Native Americans from cinema, such as The Lone Ranger, sports …show more content…
“Land O Lakes Butter” has a Plains Indian woman as their logo. No Indian tribes own nor give permission to the company to use a Native American woman in their logo. Also many tobacco companies have Native American logos, such as “American Spirit”. “American Spirit” claims to not be affiliated with a Native American tribe. They also claim that their Native American logo is based on Native American beliefs of traditional tobacco usage.
In conclusion, Native American stereotypes can be positive or negative. Anything that is untrue about everyone in a group of people is a stereotype. Cinema, sports teams’ names and mascots, and product brand logos can all be examples of negative Native American stereotypes. Through sports teams’ pregame tradition of a man with a headdress riding in on a horse, or the unrealistic movies of native people, people witness examples of unfair stereotyping towards the Native American