Julius Streicher was sentenced to death for the use of propaganda to dehumanize the Jewish people. The propaganda promoted in StreicherÆs Bavarian tabloid Der Sturmer created a lack of feeling toward Jews who were systematically liquidated by Germans during the Nazi regime (Churchill 176). Propaganda is still a powerful weapon for good and bad in contemporary society. One form of propaganda that continues to have a negative impact on an ethnic group is still quite common in American society, the use of Native American identifiers by sports teams. From Chief Osceola, the mascot of Florida State UniversityÆs football team, to the Kansas City Chiefs, mascots and team names in American society continue to dehumanize Native Americans. The history of relations between whites and Native Americans in U.S. society is the history of the systematic liquidation of Native Americans; a group Churchill (176) maintains dwindled from approximately 12.5 million in 1500 to 250,000 by the turn of the twentieth century. This elimination of Native Americans stemmed largely from ôthe cruelty of Euro-American settlersö and government policy (Churchill 176). The use of Native American identifiers by sports teams is a practice that reinforces ôcruelö attitudes toward Native Americans and should be immediately prohibited.
The use of Native American identifiers is tantamount to a crime against humanity. This is because the use of negative images of Native Americans to promote sports teams leads to conditions that promote the destruction of Indians. From war chants and tomahawk chop rituals at Florida State University to war paint-wearing fans at Kansas City Chiefs games, such images reinforce the attitude that Native Americans are savages and dangerous. These attitudes lead individuals to become less sensitive to or tolerant of Native Americans. Further, the use of Native American identifiers is tantamount to a violation of the
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