Nobody seems to think of the obvious. Tribes have sacred symbols that are precious to them, but they can also create more public symbols for licensed use, that reference the tribe as historically important in that area, but is not patronizing.
For example, you would be hard pressed to find a member of the Apache tribe who is offended with the US military naming a helicopter gunship after their tribe. Especially a kick ass lethal helicopter like the Apache. The Apache were and remain a warrior tribe, and they were very, very good at it, and many of the tribe to this day serve honorably and with distinction in both the US Army and US Marine Corps.
So what about sports teams? Well, it is unlikely that any tribe would want a sports team to use their tribal name. However, they might be willing to lend a common symbol, like an animal, given a tribal language name. So instead of a team called something mundane, like the “Springfield Bears”, they would call themselves the “Springfield Matos”, for example, which would be Lakota for ‘bears’.
I would think American Indians would be proud to have sports mascots associated with them. Isn’t the idea to have a name that sounds courageous, brave, glorious, fierce, etc. I mean who wants their school to be known as the ‘Fight’n French’.
the whole concept of “Indian Nations in this day and age is pathetic....dissolve all reservations, incorporate them into the states, collect taxes from the residents, put them to work and get them off welfare and let’s get on with life. That whole concept is from the 18th and 19th century, lets get over it, assimilate native americans into normal society and grow up. Political correctness is going to be the downfall of our society, it has already damaged it seriously...too bad