If you’ve seen my social media platforms in the past week, you probably know about my post-grad plans. I will be attending Florida State University to pursue a Master’s of Science in Higher Education Administration.
Words can't accurately describe how excited I am for this next stage of my life. Over the course of four years, this place has taken me from an overwhelmed 17-year-old kid, to what I’d like to think is an almost fully functioning adult. I will always have love for Chapel Hill and North Carolina as a whole, but it’s time for me to go.
When I started the grad school application process, I never envisioned I would be going to another large sports school. I was even more sure that I would not end up at another ACC school. I obviously knew that ending up at Florida State would be a possible reality. I mean, I applied there, didn’t I? Regardless, I wasn’t prepared for my current conundrum.
After attending UNC for four years and our football team achieving not much in that time frame besides the ACC Coastal Division championship in 2015, I’m excited to be attending a football school for once. However, Florida State’s mascot, to be frank, is a problem for me.
Florida State’s mascot, for those unaware, is the Seminole. Yep, you guessed it. The mascot is in reference to the Seminole Native American tribe. Over the years, white male students have performed blatantly racist caricatures of Native Americans before football games. In 1977, the mascot was refined to pay tribute to Osceola, the famed Seminole leader. With the support and assistance from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the new Osceola mascot debuted in 1978. Game time traditions like the tomahawk chop and war chant continue to this day.
I understand the University’s intent and the attempts over the years at making the Seminole mascot as respectful as possible. But much has changed in the past 40 years, and it's unclear whether the university has revisited the mascot with more than half-hearted passion since. Regardless, the idea of a people’s identity and culture being used as a literal costume is simply wrong. Especially when it’s followed by racist performative traditions based on racist stereotypes of Natives. Especially when you consider the racial makeup of the university (60.1 percent white, 0.2 percent Native American). Most importantly, this is wrong especially because this nation stole the land of its native people and then followed that with genocide.
Part of why I chose to attend Florida State to pursue a career in student affairs is because issues of cultural appropriation, symbolic ownership and racism as it relates to Native Americans are most significant at institutions like FSU. I care about these issues, not because I’m personally affected by them, but because I care about the wellbeing of others, especially those marginalized by this country's oppression.
I’m excited to be a Florida State grad student, but I’m not excited to be a Seminole.
