The Cleveland American League franchise has enjoyed a rich history in sports since its inception on April 24, 1901. The northeastern Ohio MLB team is one of only four charter American League clubs - others include Detroit, Boston and Chicago - to play continuously in the same city.
And professional baseball in Cleveland dates even further back. Cleveland, Ohio, is a baseball city and people here are crazy about their team. The Cleveland Indians have a wide following throughout Ohio and beyond. And this is the centennial year of the team adopting the name "Indians". Sportswriters dubbed the team with the name. And although the origins of why this name was chosen are sort of muddled up in sports history hearsay, for decades talk circulated that the team was named after Louis Sockalexis, who played for the Cleveland Spiders between 1897 to 1899. Many write this off as being nothing but a myth, however. Actually, nothing is really clear as to why the team was named the Indians, but it's a fact that sportswriters gave the team their name.
Although many who are involved with Indian issues and concerns claim there are bigger things for North American Indians to concern themselves with than Indian mascots and team names, many Natives are fighting to have these names eliminated. They don't like them, they don't want them, and having everyone from high schools to colleges and universities to professional athletic teams taking on American Indian names and mascots has a spiraling, tornado effect - it's heartbreaking for a proud American Indian to see an entire stadium donning cheap, chicken-feathered headdresses, with their faces painted up with lipstick or water-based, water-color paints, and whooping, chanting, and crying out like lunatics just released from an insane asylum.
Some claim that the Cleveland Indians want to ditch their mascot and team name, but have been going about it slowly, almost at a glacier's pace. Even Chief Wahoo has been riding into the sunset a bit more with each upcoming season. Evidence of this is at the MLB team's homepage, where Chief Wahoo isn't much of a chief at all. In fact, you have to really look to find that stupidly smiling red face with the solitary feather poking up. Is he even there?
"That cap and a small sleeve patch on the jersey are the only remaining spaces the Chief has to occupy, replaced by an understated block type capital `C' as the franchise’s primary brand mark," writers Shane Nicholson, managing editor of the Rock River Times.
"And there wasn’t any pomp and circumstance to it; the Indians have just been slowly walking the Chief out the backdoor for years now. A graceful exit for an image from a bygone era, one where casual racism at the expense of a minority group was okay to represent your sports team," Nicholson writes.
It can be argued that American Indians have nothing against sports. In fact, many who live on Indian reservations are as crazy about their high school and college sports stars as people of any other ethnicity. And during football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball, track and other sporting events, if you want to see a whole tribe of real Indians, maybe two tribes - if rival high schools from different reservations are involved with an athletic event - all you need to do is visit their stadium, gymnasium, or playing field. And even the most militant Native really doesn't have anything against baseball, per se, or football, or any other sport, for that matter, but when he or she spots Chief Wahoo, a flaring temper will undoubtedly result.
Like any other ethnicity, Indians, too, are sports fans. Popular magazines circulated to this very special group of people, such as Indian Country Today Media Network, Navajo Times, and other magazines and newspapers that are published for Native Americans, have sports sections. And their online offerings have deep archives. Yes, Indigenous people like to follow high school sports teams, college and professional athletes who happen to be Native American, even boxers and gymnasts - and like any other publication, the sports page is always a crowd-pleasing, popular section. American Indian families, like other families, have favorite college and professional teams they follow. And many are spectators, too. Most outside of this culture aren't acquainted with what Indians like, and many probably never thought that American Indians, like everyone else, like sports. Yes, yes, yes - they really, really do!
The lead story on the sport page of Indian Country Today Media Network
the time and day this article was posted was a sports feature on University of Wisconsin-Green Bay sophomore Tesha Buck (Mdewakanton Sioux). "She proudly wears a tattoo of a feather with a basketball in the center and the words Cante Wasaga Win (Strong Hearted Woman) on her torso to remind her where she comes from. But it’s not where she’s been that has the Horizon League Tournament MVP on top of the world; it’s where she’s going," the article reads. Yes, Ms. Buck is a standout performer on the court and has many fans throughout Indian Land.
Another top ICTMN story is an informational piece on Bronson Koenig, Ho-Chunk Nation, a Wisconsin Badgers' guard who helped his team defeat the University of Kentucky 71-64 in April 4's Final Four contest. With the game tied at 56 in the second half, Bronson hit a crucial 3-pointer and Wisconsin maintained a steady momentum from there. Bronson scored 12 points against Kentucky. According to UWBadgers.com, he owns more than 15 double-digit scoring games this season. Tonight, the Badgers will face Duke in the NCAA tournament. All eyes will be on the Big Ten underdog team who beat the seemingly invincible UK juggernaut.
Even on the subject of Indian mascots, there isn't a unanimity of opinion on the matter. Some Indians actually have a favorite team that has an Indian mascot; but over the past several years, coming to a crescendo after more than four decades of protest by AIM (American Indian Movement) and other American Indian activist groups, there has been a growing defiance, even an animosity, among American Indians concerning Indian team mascots and names. The American Indian Movement, Idle No More, and other proactive groups are all against them, however. AIM protesters, over the past several decades, have organized demonstrations during games. On social media, many Native Americans post items that lambaste and ridicule high schools, colleges and universities, and professional sports franchises that have Indian team names and mascots.
For two decades now, American Indian activists have shown up for Cleveland Indians' opening day. And this year will see the same - on April 10, with the game set to start a little after 4 p.m. with the Detroit Tigers. Ferne Clements of The Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance, who's spearheaded demonstrations against the Cleveland MLB club since 1991, invited Clyde Bellecourt, a co-founder of American Indian Movement; and Charlene Teters, dean of the Institute of American Indian Arts and founder of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, to this year's demonstration. Clements, Bellecourt, Teters, AIM members and supporters, and representatives from Idle No More will be on hand. All are hoping for a large delegation of protesters to show up. The day before the game, a conference on racism on April 11 at Cleveland's Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in Tremont will be held.
According to Aim Cleveland's Facebook page, on April 10, the group `People, Not Mascots' will also be having their annual Opening Day Protest at Progressive Field, the home of the Cleveland MLB club. "We will be protesting the institutional racism that the Cleveland Indians baseball team continues to promote. We are asking for them to discontinue to the use of their name `Indians' and Chief Wahoo," so posted Robert Rice on Aim Cleveland's Facebook page on March 29. "American Indians are a race of people, we are not a sports team and we are not mascots! We meet at E. 9th Street, Gate C (100 ft. north of the Bob Feller Statue on the Grass Area). The time of this event starts at 2 p.m.," Rice adds.
"Quite often when speaking out and educating others about the mascot issue, the same question is asked, `Why are you people worried about mascots? Don't you have bigger issues to worry about on the reservations?” writes Amanda Blackhorse in a March 20 online offering of Indian Country Today Media Network titled "This Is What Dehumanization Looks Like".
"Native people, likewise, will also ask, `Why are we (indigenous peoples) fighting the mascot issue when there are bigger issues to fight?'” Blackhorse continues.
"Oh yes, the bigger issues question. What most people seem to be referring to are the many issues which plague Native American communities. Societal problems such as violence against women, suicide, alcoholism, high unemployment rates on reservations, poverty, etc. Many of these issues have been highlighted throughout the history of Native American people, through various studies, articles, documentaries, movies, so on and so on," the American Indian journalist writes.
I grew up in this ever-so-familiar way of poverty and destruction, in all those ‘bigger issues’ people talk about. My very existence is a symptom of that. I understand it very well; I’ve been accustomed to it, and in many ways it has made me the very resilient person I am today. I understand the struggles of ‘poverty’ and in many ways, I continue to live in that struggle, she continues.
"If we are not respected as human beings how can we be respected when dealing with politics and/or economics? It makes it harder to be seen as leaders, advocates, and people who want real change to happen in our communities if you are seen as just a person who dances at pow wows and viewed as a mere relic of old cowboy and Indian movies. Of course this is not the case in every situation when dealing with non-Natives and government, but it seems to be a common misconception of Native people, which transcends into politics and government," Blackhorse writes.
"The mascot issue has been going on for more than 40 years and we are only now beginning to see our people and topics on the national level. Just because it doesn’t make headlines does not mean the battles are not being fought somewhere in Native America. Our voice doesn’t seem to be strong enough, so protest, lawsuits, and movements are necessary so that we can be heard, loud and clear," she writes.
In her article that appeared on Nov. 1, 2014 in Indian Country Today Media Network titled "An Anti-Redskins Protest Even Dan Snyder Can't Ignore", Jacqueline Keeler summarizes AIM co-founder's work in getting Indian team names and mascots changed: "(Clyde) Bellecourt first became involved in fighting the Native American mascots in 1968 when he and other Native leaders in Minneapolis formed AIM. They began with the local high schools and had great success in getting them to change their mascots. Then in 1972, they were contacted by George Whirlwind Solder, a University of North Dakota student from the Rosebud Lakota reservation. When UND changed their mascot from the Flickertails in 1930 to the `Fighting Sioux' their reasons were was follows: `1. Sioux are a good exterminating agent for the Bison; 2. They (Sioux) are warlike, of fine physique and bearing…; 3. The word Sioux is easily rhymed for yells and songs.' The Bison was the mascot for North Dakota State University, UND’s rivals. The new mascot was called `Sammy the Sioux.'”
"That winter of 1972, UND fraternities and sororities created offensive ice sculptures featuring Native American people to celebrate the `King Kold Karnival'. Sigma Nu fraternity created one of a bare-breasted woman painted brown with a sign saying `Lik em Sioux' at the bottom. The Native student organization repeatedly asked the administration to take them down but they were ignored. Finally one night, some Native students got rid of the racists sculptures using pick axes and Whirlwind Soldier was arrested. Bellecourt says they brought an attorney and helped get the charges against the student dismissed. However, it took four more decades to get the school to change its mascot," Keeler writes.
Perhaps what's even worse than the American Indian team names and mascots is the "fan" shrapnel that comes with these things. In the photo above (attributed to photog Lonnie Timmons III), an American Indian, Robert Roche (left) is debating Willoughby, Ohio, resident and Chief Wahoo wannabe Pedro Rodriguez (right) close to Progressive Field on Opening Day in 2014. This image set social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter buzzing last year and became an iconic photograph used by Native Americans of why Indian team names and mascots have to go.
Unimaginative, lazy, racist sportswriters have also heaved racial slurs like boulders at American Indians over the years. Any team with an Indian name and mascot is a target for these creepy horrid wordsmiths, if you want to actually call them that. This not only applies to the Cleveland Indians, but really, to any team that has an Indian team name or mascot. Sports pages that cover the Washington NFL team have been littered with this racist dross over the years. In a June 18, 2014, online article posted on BuzzFeed Sports and written by Lindsey Adler, a litany of sports articles from newspapers - with most being major dailies - clutters up a long page. Here are some of the headlines and articles from the BuzzFeed Sports article, which was written about the Washington R$d$k$n$:
- "Bear Hunting or Scalping Party" (headline from the New York Times, 1943)
- "Someone's Gonna Get Scalped" (headline from the New York Times, 1944)
- "Baltimore, Dec. 2 - The Redskins are stalking through the underbrush with every tomahawk poised and ready to sweep down on that old Oklahoma settler, Stout Steve Owen. But the large Mr. Owen grew up with Indians and knows their every trick and habit....For a change, the Giants actually have a chance to thump the Redskins a resounding whack on their noggins just above the scalp line." (story copy from the New York Times, 1944)
- "Redskins scalp helpless Giants" (headline from the Lakeland Ledger, 1979)
- "Steelers add Redskins Scalp To Collection" (headline from The Pittsburgh Press, 1979)
- "A Redskin Gets Scalped In Philly" (headline from The Hour [via Associated Press], 1983)
- "Displaced Skins fans itching for Bear scalps" (headline from the Chicago Sun-Times , 1987)
- "Another Scalp for Redskins" (headline from The Washington Post, 1988)
- "Redskin Haters on Warpath: Some Shoot Arrows at 'America's Favorite Team'" (headline from The Free-Lance Post (Virginia), 1992)
- "Harley Claims Redskins' Scalp" (headline from The Mirror [UK], 2000)
But bad sports writing isn't the only thing. Sometimes things get ugly right in the stands at athletic events. At a hockey game in the little town of Allen on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota this winter, drunken jackasses subjected 57 Indian children to taunts and racial slurs and even sprayed beer on them. Overall, these nasty creeps were hit with 57 charges by police for each of the little American Horse School elementary kids who suffered from these intoxicated numbskulls. Unfortunately and unbelievably, the drunken party of mean-spirited haters didn't suffer much in the way of criminal consequences for their actions.
There were problems during the 2013 football season, too, with high school students at a number of locales around the country displaying Trail of Tears signs. Teams that played other teams with Indian mascots and team names used the forced death march of the Five Civilized Tribes from the Deep South into "Indian Territory" - Oklahoma primarily - following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, to cheer on their teams on to victory over 'the Injuns'. The Dyersburg Trojans beating the visiting Jackson Northside Indians 34-14 to advance in the Tennessee high school football playoffs was overshadowed by a raging controversy hammering Dyersburg High School. A Facebook page managed by the Dyersburg coaching staff proudly highlighted a half-dozen photos of Dyersburg students holding up a giant "Trail of Tears" banner to taunt the visiting Jackson Northside team and Mother Jones even reported on this ridiculous racist attack.
Although the Fighting Sioux team name and mascot have been retired from the University of North Dakota, last spring a group of UND students got clever and cute with photos of the chief's logo, a beer bong, and tee-shirts inscribed with the words "Siouxper Drunk" dashed across them. UND officials criticized the students for their little Springfest, sweat-hog, Bacchus-borne, sweat lodge. After the little darlings posted pictures on social media, sundry articles on this "party time" fun, sundry articles appeared nationwide. Within a few days, Facebook groups and pages reserved for American Indians and their supporters also condemned these lunkheads.
So what happens when two NFL football teams, each having Native American team names and mascots, face off on the grid iron? Well, they get the griddle at Sonic restaurants, that's what. On Dec. 9, 2013, FoxNews.com published a story and an alarming photo of a Kansas City-area Sonic restaurant that put on its marquee: "KC Chiefs" Will Scalp The Redskins Feed Them Whiskey Send - 2 - Reservation. Sonic apologized for this racist, harebrained, despicable faux pas, however, but it's just more of the same banter - if Kansas City had an owl, a mosquito, a wood duck, or a vulture as its NFL team's mascot, this would never have happened.
And such nasty racist hate speech will undoubtedly continue, as long as sports teams have Indian team names. There are more of these mascots and team names than there are Indian tribes, after all. The Cleveland Indians are but one of a multitude of teams having names and mascots derived from aboriginals, their heritages, cultures, and social dynamic structures.
Chief Wahoo, you've got to go.
Just sign me a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Raise the Jolly Roger!