Niigaan Sinclair: Mascots aren't an honor for Native people

Native-themed mascots are everywhere but sports are where they are most popular. For every Redskins there are Chiefs, Braves, Indians, Warriors, or references to specific groups like Seminoles, Blackhawks, or Eskimos."

They're all echoes. Each feature a Sioux-like warrior head adorned in war paint, a weapon, and laid out in bloody red.

Fans all across North America love these. Just look at the tens of thousands performing war whoops, beating drums, and painting faces on any given Sunday.

Native-themed teams emerged in the early 20th century, just as the United States was rising as a global superstar. The reason Americans were able to do this was solely due to empire-building -- nearly two centuries of land and resource theft from indigenous communities.

The event that most caught the American imagination were the famed Sioux Wars of 1851-1891, which made national heroes of such persons as Gen. George Custer and national enemies of such persons as Crazy Horse.

The culmination of this conflict was the Dec. 29, 1890, Wounded Knee Massacre. Surrounding a village of unarmed families, the U.S. cavalry opened fire, killing everyone. Sioux warriors returned to find a mass grave while soldiers received Medals of Honor.

After this, American pop culture fell in love with the image of the "disappearing Indian" -- a tragic but very romantic vision of a dying civilization receding into the wilderness.