Thread by @carmatrocity

A thread about representation:

I'm a @NotreDame alum. I love my alma mater, & every season I cheer for my beloved #FightingIrish in multiple sports. But one day 7 years ago, a question came from my 7-year old daughter that changed how I look at things forever

You see, we (my husband @Professor_Andoh also attended ND... twice over for both undergrad + grad) have tons of #NDAthletics merchandise. Hats, T-shirts, sweats, sandals, scarves. You name it. And we bought much of this in pint sizes for our kids... a proper indoctrination.

All of this merchandise is emblazoned with the classic ND fighting Irish leprechaun, shown here.

In 2011, when we presented my then 7-year old daughter with ND merchandise with this leprechaun on it, she asked the question: could she instead have the ND mascot that WASN'T a boy and white?
(This was her, circa that year...)

You see, as an interracial family, we knew the importance of representation. She grew up with black dolls, white dolls, mixed-race dolls, we were careful to pick television shows that also had a broad set of people of all different shades represented.

She grows up in a world of options. She doesn't have to deal with "skin" color crayons that aren't her skin tone, "nude" makeup that was anything but, not seeing herself as the main protagonist etc., & the othering this brought to previous generation of people of color.

So of COURSE she would ask for another option for the ND leprechaun that wasn't a man and white. The problem is: there was no woman, not to mention one of color.

And this got me thinking: why ISN'T there a mascot that is a woman? Because at that time (2011), the women's and co-ed teams at ND had been the only ones to win Division 1 NCAA championships... a men's team hadn't had a single one in ages.

And then it got me thinking some more: Title IX enforced equal funding in sports and educational activities... yet the majority of NCAA mascots are overwhelmingly portrayed as super-muscly-warrior-man. We're talking animals here anthropomorphized. Google "NCAA mascots"

I had never questioned this mascot bias, but once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it. Not just for @NotreDame 's leprechaun, but for all of college sports where mascots are supposed to represent m/w/coed teams.

So, what's a mom / alum to do when her black daughter wants to cheer for the #FightingIrish but with a mascot that #Represents her? I made one.

I shared it to my 200+ alum friends on social media. It was so popular, I made another one:

Then the requests started pouring in. From all my @notredame classmates who also wanted to feel represented. Latina, Filipina, Black, Irish, Biracial, curly hair, straight hair, diff cultural heritage, you name it. I made a banner grid of a few of them. #RepresentationMatters

A few friends who worked at ND urged me to send these to ND's merchandising- they wanted to make this a thing! Sell #justlikeme leprechauns for all. I was excited that this idea was being so well received. But the response from ND merchandizing took the wind out of my sails

Basically @NotreDame bashed the idea for "diluting the visual potency" of the original mascot. "We can't have copycats, it takes away from the brand." They also Cc:ed ND Legal and issued a warning: don't print these out for commercial gains.

When I shared this back to my @notredame classmates, many were so upset they had me talk to an IP lawyer (also an ND alum) to see if I could push back. But I had no intentions of making this for profit, I just wanted to brighten my daughter's day.

So... I shared these widely and publicly on FB with the proviso that these images couldn't be printed and sold for profit. That football season my FB feed was flooded with people making these "lassies" their FB profile pics. 😊💚🍀

I've continued making the leprechauns here and there over the last 7 years and my collection has grown to over 100 lassie + leprechaun #FightingIrish variations.
(It's like @ashleymcnamara , but for Notre Dame lassie leprechauns instead of #golang gophers 😊 )

I took solace that at least I was making others feel included.. fast forward a few years. NCAA college sports isn't the only place where white + men are the default. My industry (tech) is also this, even moreso.

When I joined my current company, @travisci, there was only the "Mr. T" logo with the mustache as a mascot. I decided when I joined I'd announce it by making my own "Ms. T" as me.

https://twitter.com/carmatrocity/status/714968427660779521

Which led to our Design Director creating Tessa several weeks later. Tessa is now our most popular sticker at tech conferences worldwide.

https://twitter.com/ctrlaltjustine/status/752916295146885120

There are Tessa and Mr. T variations that celebrate LGTBQIA pride too. Our web team merged a change that generates a random Mr. T or Tessa on each site visit. I cannot tell you how wonderful that made me feel. It was a validation I didn't get from my alma mater, @NotreDame

And it didn't "dilute" the Travis brand. It STRENGTHENED it. I want the NCAA, or any company with a mascot to think about how their mascot portrays for all the teams within their universities. Does it symbolize and represent all in your organization?

If not, its time for a mascot re-design. #representationforall

@NotreDame @threadreaderapp unroll