Some tropes refuse to die
August 26, 2019 10:19 AM   Subscribe

" . . . This is why I found Deadspin’s recent article about racism toward Native American lacrosse teams within the Dakota Premier Lacrosse League (DPLL) particularly vital. The way Curtis Waltman laid out the bigotry experience by Native American teams expelled from the league in his piece illustrated why there needs to be a shift in the reporting of Native American athletics. Other than basketball, coverage of Native sports is underrepresented, and the pressures and abuses that come from failing to shed light on these sports will only continue unless they become part of our everyday sports consumption." How to Cover Native American Sports

Native American Lacrosse Teams Reported Racial Abuse. Then Their League Expelled Them. - Deadspin article mentioned above.

Dakota lacrosse teams’ expulsion may have exposed undercurrent of racism - Three primarily Native American teams say they were banned after complaining about racial taunts

Controversy over expulsion of three Native American lacrosse teams leads to positive outreach

What It Means to be Native in This Sport - US Lacrosse Magazine asked a dozen Native American lacrosse players — past and present — to share their stories in their words.

The History of Lacrosse - "The Native American games were seen as major events, which took place over several days.They were played over huge open areas between villages and the goals, which might be trees or other natural features, were anything from 500 yards to several miles apart. Any number of players were involved. Some estimates have mentioned between 100 and 100,000 players participating in a game at any one time. The rules were very simple, the ball was not to be touched by a player’s hand and there were no boundaries. The ball was tossed into the air to indicate the start of the game and players raced to be the first to catch it."
posted by flug (7 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
 
A note that may not be super obvious, I mean it was mentioned a bit, but jumped out at me:

While the focus is on the league admin who is the obvious asshole/antagonist in this story, don't dare forget that each and every other person, especially the non-native coaches, are culpable in this abhorrent behavior. The fact that they aren't ringing alarm bells at the very least, nor backing up the stories of incidents on the field, speaks volumes as to their motives, priorities, and/or racial belief structure.

I'm sorry but the statement I keep hearing about one Nazi sitting at a table with 11 other people making it 12 Nazis at said table, yep that applies to racism in cases like this just as aptly.
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:36 AM on August 26, 2019 [22 favorites]


Not to be patronizing, but honestly looking for a new POV: are there any standout Native sports writers, or local writers who pay attention to Native teams & players? I have read really passionate pieces written by local sports writers, who have an intimate knowledge of local sports history and might even have watched more than one generation of a family play, and it brings fantastic context to the pieces.

(For example, the recent Fox Sports TV series on Minnesota Town Ball interviews a lot of players and writers who have spent their whole lives around a hyper-local team, and the stories are very much worth hearing.)
posted by wenestvedt at 10:43 AM on August 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


Great post, thank you for this.
posted by sallybrown at 10:59 AM on August 26, 2019 [1 favorite]




OK, this looks like an awesome place to start. Thanks! I will begin with these!m as soon as I figure out access that isn't so expensive. Library, here I come....
posted by wenestvedt at 6:07 PM on August 26, 2019


For a great book on the history of lacrosse, check out American Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother of War by Thomas Vennum.
posted by gudrun at 7:56 PM on August 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


Lots of good bookmark Ms for future reading here. Thanks!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:19 PM on August 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


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