Answer:
7. "Indians Are People, Not Mascots" is an essay by Fred Veilleux which was published with another series of essays on racist speech, hate propaganda, and other subjects, in 1995. The essay is mostly a case against the wrongful use of elements of Indian culture as if they were meaningless, or as if they were a way to show acceptance of that culture that has been a part of the Americas for much longer than anyone can actually ascertain. In it, Veilleux not only shows the way that white Americans show their racism and discriminatory ideas towards Native American culture, but most importantly, their ignorace of the true meaning of symbols, words, customs and traditons.
When you read this essay, there is but one idea that comes to mind, and that is, blatant ignorance and a total lack of understanding of how our attitudes towards another culture can generate division, and most importantly, discrimination and racial hatred. Just hearing Veilleux discribe the appearance of those mascots at games, using names that only remind others about the lack of real acceptance of Native Americans, their ways of life, and most importantly, their ancestry and history, reminds the reader that, much as America preaches tolerance and acceptance of other cultures, this is still not the case.
Does the author convince you that the use of Indian names, cultural elements, and historical references that remind of how white Americans who descended from Europeans, treated Native Americans, is wrong, I would say, definitely. The use of these mascots, as said before, only shows that there is still today a lot of misconception, misunderstanding and discrimination towards Native American cultures.
8. This word: domesticate, makes a reader think of two things: wild animals, and the need to control them. When used in reference ot Native Americans, it makes one think not only of wild animals but also of savages, a connotation that was given to Natives by Europeans from the moment they met. The reason? Differences in lifestyle, language and customs. Europeans, and colonists later on, believed, that the best for these natives was to "civilize them", or turn them from their wild, animal versions, into what was believed to be "human" So domesticate the Indians shows how discriminatory white settlers always were towards those different to them and also it provides the image that Native Americans were nothing above savage, inhuman, wild animals.