July 28, 1997Law, humanities and social sciences
When he led the first- and second-graders into the stadium, Pewewardy was sickened to hear a group of Vikings fans curse the children as "redskins" and spit and throw rocks at them.
Pewewardy, who joined the University of Kansas School of Education faculty last year and who is Comanche and Kiowa, recalls telling the hurt, baffled youngsters: "These people ignorant. They don't know what they are doing. They are blind, full of hate."
The children's experience unfortunately is not an extreme example of the disrespect and insensitivity fostered by the use of American Indian images in sports, says Pewewardy, a specialist in education of American Indian children.
"My weapon to combat ignorance and racism is education," Pewewardy says.
From 3 to 5 p.m. Aug. 6 in the Lawrence Indian Center, 1423 Haskell Ave., Pewewardy will offer a free workshop on racism in American sports culture. The workshop is primarily for educators, and space is limited, Pewewardy says.
He has offered many such workshops throughout the United States in recent years. Pewewardy, whose work in multicultural education has won acclaim, regularly writes and offers workshops on the disrespect and racism fostered by sports teams using American Indian images as mascots or themes.
On Aug. 6, Pewewardy will discuss the use of Indian mascots and names, the "tomahawk chop" and policies to eliminate offensive images in higher education, public schools and parks departments.
Pewewardy says many issues are important to American Indians, but eliminating disrespect and racism in the sports culture is a big first step in helping Indian children build the self-esteem necessary for academic success.
He is writing a book on the use of Indian mascots - a custom that has led to a silent genocide, Pewewardy says. He also is negotiating with a publisher concerning a manuscript he has completed describing his work as an elementary school principal in St. Paul, Minn.
He received the 1992 National Indian Educator of the Year award and the 1991 Minnesota Administrators' Academy Transformational Leadership Award for his work in multicultural education.
Pewewardy has been a kindergarten teacher, an Indian magnet school principal and a football coach, as well as a university professor. At KU, he teaches graduate courses in multicultural education and in teaching American Indian students.
He moved to KU from Cameron University School of Education in Lawton, Okla., where he taught for two years. From 1991 to 1994, he was principal of the American Indian Magnet School and of the World Cultures and Languages Magnet School in St. Paul. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Research on Multi-Ethnic Education at the University of Oklahoma in Norman in 1990.
Pewewardy earned a doctorate in educational administration from Pennsylvania State University at University Park in 1989. He earned master's degrees in education from New Mexico State University at Las Cruces and from Northeastern State University at Tahlequah, Okla. He received his bachelor's degree from Northeastern State.
Story by Mary Jane Dunlap, (785) 864-8853