Page 21 - ARUBA TODAY

A21
SPORTS Wednesday 31 January 2018

Native Americans: Benching Wahoo step in right direction

By FELICIA FONSECA it said is disparaging be- Cheyenne and Arapaho
Associated Press cause of a Supreme Court Tribes of Oklahoma.
Cleveland native Josh Hunt decision that favored an Charlene Teters was
is not a fan of baseball. But Asian-American band call- among a group of people
he’s showed up at Progres- ing itself the Slants. That arrested in 1998 outside
sive Field where the Indians means the Redskins likely the Cleveland stadium for
play for the past couple of would prevail in a legal burning an effigy of Chief
years to protest the team battle to cancel the team’s Wahoo she likened to Little
name and its mascot, Chief trademarks. Black Sambo — a charac-
Wahoo — confronted with The Redskins declined ter from an 1899 children’s
fans in headdresses and comment Tuesday on book widely considered
face paint, some playing Cleveland’s decision. to be racist. It was a way
small drums. NFL Commissioner Roger for Native Americans, who
“Being Native American Goodell told ESPN Radio make up about 2 percent
myself, it’s a reminder that that he doesn’t see Snyder of the U.S. population, to
our city and our society changing his perspective be heard after years of
doesn’t see me as a hu- and pointed to a Washing- holding signs, she said. The
man being,” he said. “It ton Post poll from 2016 that movement now is being led
would prefer to portray me In this April 10, 2015, file photo, Philip Yenyo, left, executive found that 90 percent of by a younger generation of
as a racist stereotype, a director of the American Indians Movement for Ohio, talks with 504 Native Americans sur- Native Americans who see
bloodthirsty savage.” a Cleveland Indians fan before a baseball game against the veyed nationwide did not how imagery affects them,
The protests have been Detroit Tigers in Cleveland. think the Redskins name she said.
happening since at least Associated Press was offensive. “That says to me it’s over
the 1970s, and this week pressed that change would including the NFL’s Kansas Pata sees public sentiment because our young people
marked what American equate respect. City Chiefs, the MLB’s At- being the main tool in chal- get it, and they’re taking up
Indians say is a small but “Once you make this big lanta Braves and the NHL’s lenging the names and lo- that challenge and doing it
meaningful change in pro- step and the public under- Chicago Blackhawks. gos. Activists have used the their own way,” said Teters,
fessional sports. The players stands, it makes a state- The imagery isn’t limited to courts, protested, burned a Spokane tribal member
won’t don Chief Wahoo ment in itself,” said Pata, of the United States. mascots in effigy, adver- and academic dean at
on their uniforms starting the Tlingit Tribe of Alaska. Brazil’s Chapecoense, a tised and had forums on the Institute of American In-
in the 2019 season, when “I continue to say an in- soccer team that lost 19 of imagery in sports to explain dian Arts in Santa Fe, New
Cleveland will host the All- formed public will make its players in a November the disparities it creates for Mexico.
Star Game, though the decisions about what they 2016 air crash, has a mas- Native youth and the mis- For some Cleveland fans,
red-faced cartoon with a buy and how they want cot named for a 19th cen- conceptions about con- Chief Wahoo has been a
big-toothed grin and feath- to be associated with the tury leader of the Kaingang temporary Native Ameri- beloved part of the team
er headband won’t disap- sports teams.” Tribe. Locals in Chapeco, a cans. since 1947 and they don’t
pear from merchandise. The group has kept a list of majority white city, say us- Hunt said those discussions want to see the players
Major League Baseball schools and sports teams ing the mascot is hypocriti- are most productive when without him. They’ve seen
Commissioner Rob Man- that use indigenous imag- cal and racist considering he meets people one on Wahoo as a sign of hope,
fred and team owner Paul ery, mascots and names, the last surviving Kaingangs one, away from the Cleve- as a symbol of Cleveland’s
Dolan said the change once a common tradi- have been pushed to the land stadium he calls “re- renaissance in the 1990s
was about diversity and in- tion throughout the U.S. edges of the city and be- gressive field,” and is hope- when the team’s fortunes
clusion. Manfred met with Change has come: Sav- yond. ful momentum leads to fur- turned on the field — urging
the National Congress of ages to Blue Hawks at Dick- Most of the efforts for ther change. through signs and T-shirts to
American Indians last April, son State University. Indians change in the United States “While it seems bleak, it re- keep him.
after the club had reduced to Big Green at Dartmouth are at the high school level. ally has shocked people “That’s the way it is, I
Wahoo’s visibility and intro- College. Warriors to Golden But the biggest push na- into at least waking up a guess,” said Jeremiah Bak-
duced a block “C’’ as the Eagles at Marquette Univer- tionally is against the NFL’s little and paying attention er of North Ridgeville, Ohio,
club’s primary insignia. The sity. School districts in Min- Washington Redskins, a to things like this, racist im- wearing one of the team’s
NCAI’s executive director, nesota and Wisconsin have name team owner Dan agery, to our country’s his- blue caps with a red “C.”
Jacqueline Pata, said she banned Native American Snyder is intent on keep- tory, how we’ve treated ‘’I know people get of-
knew the All-Star game mascots for decades. ing. The U.S. Justice Depart- Native Americans and Afri- fended about just about
was putting pressure on the Pata said about 1,000 ment recently gave up a can Americans,” said Hunt, everything nowadays. It’s
team, and she further im- names still are targeted, legal fight over the name an enrolled member of the disappointing.”q