For individuals who view being American as central to their sense of self, the reality of Native oppression (e.g., genocide, police brutality) threatens their ability to maintain a positive national identity. We theorize that long-standing narratives in American culture erase and dehumanize Natives, enabling non-Natives to psychological distance and justify Native oppression as a means of protecting positive national identity. We illustrate this protective process using the example of Native mascots. We first demonstrate that Native mascots erase and dehumanize Natives and then illustrate how the use of Native mascots protects national identity. We conclude by calling for individual- and institutional-level changes to create a society free of harmful and toxic narratives and the practices that perpetuate these narratives.

中文翻译：

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消除和非人化土著以保护积极的民族认同：土著吉祥物的例子

对于将美国人视为自我意识核心的个人来说，土著压迫的现实（例如种族灭绝、警察暴行）威胁到他们保持积极的民族认同的能力。我们的理论是，美国文化中长期存在的叙述抹杀了土著人并使其非人化，使非土著人能够在心理上保持距离，并证明将土著人压迫作为保护积极民族身份的一种手段是合理的。我们以本地吉祥物为例来说明这种保护过程。我们首先证明土著吉祥物抹杀和非人化土著，然后说明土著吉祥物的使用如何保护民族身份。最后，我们呼吁在个人和机构层面进行变革，以创建一个没有有害和有毒叙事以及使这些叙事永久化的做法的社会。