Native Americans And The National Identity

Air Date:
Heard On The Morning Show
A Navajo student in front of her high school
Lemiley Lane, who grew up in the Navajo Nation in Arizona, in front of her school, Bountiful High in Bountiful, Utah. While advocates have made strides in getting Native American symbols and names changed in sports, they say there’s still work to do mainly at the high school level, where mascots like Braves, Indians, Warriors, Chiefs and Redskins persist. (Rick Bowmer/AP Photo)

The effort to end the use of Native American mascots has met both success and resistance. We talk with the head of the National Museum of the American Indian about how First Nations have simultaneously been oppressed, exploited and romanticized — and what it reveals about American culture.

Episode Credits

  • Kate Archer Kent Host
  • Joe Tarr Producer
  • Lee Rayburn Technical Director
  • Kevin Gover Guest