Do you agree with the assertion the athletic team name should be changed

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Do you agree with the assertion the athletic team name should be changed?

I agree with the assertion that the name of the school athletic team was not considerate of racial issues for political correctness. This is because even though the name came along when the issue of political correctness was not so important which was around 70 years ago, it I important for people to consider what the people to who the name refers to and critically analyze if the name of the team offends the individuals.

Describe how Ferdman’s model of inclusion practices (Table 9.4) worked in this case. Did the influence for inclusive practices travel both up and down the model?

Ferdman argues that there is a multilevel model of inclusion in any organization. In the case of the school athletics team changing the name, it can be argued that it is true that his model worked since the inclusive agenda which was being driven towards by the changing of the name occurred and it was also democratic as the five board members managed to vote and three voted for the change of the name while two voted against changing the name.

What barriers to embracing diversity and inclusion did the school board and community experience in this case?

The one major barrier is the argument that from the time the name was given to the school athletic team it has never been changed and due to this, some of the people did not want the name change to be effected. They were basically repellant to change. The other barrier that the school name change experienced was the members of the board who were very much against the name changing. The third challenge was the assumption by some individuals that the name of the athletics team did not at any point affect racial relations among the players, the school members as well as the community members. The forth challenge was the fact that some of the individuals did not accept change and in fact some of the shopkeepers still sold old t-shirts of the athletics team to the people despite the name being changed.

Using the inclusion framework in Table 9.3, where would you place the Native American residents in the town of Springfield? What about Native American students at Springfield High School?

The native American residents in the town of Springfield can be stated as being on the low value in uniqueness and in the assimilation part. However, the native American students at Springfield high school can be located in the low value uniqueness and in the exclusion part. This is because the name of the athletics team affects them directly and this is a hot bed of racial imbalance with around 90% whites. On the outside, the people tend to assimilate and try to understand others and therefore there is little racial imbalance or discrimination.

By changing the name of the athletic teams, do you believe the school board was showing inclusive practices? If so, which ones?

The name of the school athletic team changed and this can be referred to as showing inclusive practices. This specific inclusive practice is assimilation or tolerance since the whites are tolerating the people of color and at the same time assimilating them not into their culture but into the culture of the school which is considered more important than the racial cultures.

What role does privilege play in the resistance of community members to change the athletic teams’ name?

The fact that most of the members of the public and the surrounding communities are whites makes it very difficult for them to accept the change of the name and this is displayed when some still sell the t-shirts and other gear with the old name of the athletics team. This resistance acts to display the manner in which the outsiders fuel racial imbalance and inequality within the surrounding institutions like the high school.