In the July 1993 edition of The
Circle, I wrote a story about “pro sports franchises
appropriating Native American people and their culture —
sacraments, rituals and symbols — as a prop for their multi-million
dollar entertainment sports extravaganzas.”
The article — which followed local
American Indian Movement (AIM)-led protests at the 1991 World Series
(Minnesota vs. Atlanta) and the 1992 Super Bowl (Buffalo vs.
Washington) — involved a visit to the Metrodome, where the Twins
were hosting Cleveland. The article was titled “Cleveland Indians:
Chief Wahoo’s Tribe?”
My approach was to talk to the
ballplayers about the controversial use of Indian names, mascots and
symbols in pro sports. I recall that Twins slugger Ken Hrbek agreed
to talk. Hrbek didn’t quite understand what all the fuss was about,
regarding the Cleveland Indians name and logo — the caricature of
Chief Wahoo. Hrbek said that he had friends in South Dakota who are
“of Indian descent.” They shoot birds together. “People are
proud to wear the Cleveland Indians logo, and people are proud to be
Atlanta Braves and stuff like that,” Hrbek told me. “So, I can’t
see it demeaning in any way.”
Over the past 30-plus years, I’ve
written many stories about “cultural appropriation,” the
exploitation of American Indian cultural symbols and rituals for
profit. I’ve explored the desecration of sacred sites and burial
mounds, the marketing of Crazy Horse malt liquor, the emergence of
“plastic medicine people” peddling sweatlodge and vision quest
experiences — and the use of Indian names and mascots in sports.
I’ve closely followed the recent flare of national press coverage
about the NFL franchise in Washington, and the new media attention
soon will focus on Minneapolis again. On Thursday evening, Nov. 7,
there will be a protest march from Franklin Avenue to the Metrodome.
Hundreds of Twin Citians will protest against the Washington NFL
franchise’s continued use of the name “Redskins,” a derogatory
and racist slur. In late October, I received an AIM press release
that “declares November 7 ‘R’ day, the beginning of the end”
for the Washington football team’s name.
Raising the profile of the issue, in
early October, President Obama weighed in on the growing controversy
over the name of the football team representing the nation’s
capital. “If I were the owner of a team and I knew that there was a
name of my team — even if it had a storied history — that was
offending a sizeable group of people, I’d think about changing it,”
Obama told the Associated Press.
Perhaps even more influential than
Obama’s comment, during the halftime of Sunday Night Football,
on Oct. 13, sports announcer Bob Costas rebutted the idea that Indian
monikers honored indigenous peoples: “‘Redskins’ can’t
possibly honor a heritage, or noble character trait, nor can it
possibly be considered a neutral term,” Costas told NFL fans. “It’s
an insult, a slur, no matter how benign the present-day intent.”
Costas apparently was addressing the
Oct. 19 letter that Daniel Snyder, the billionaire who owns the
Washington franchise, sent to fans. The team “was, and continues to
be, a badge of honor,” according to Snyder. “Washington Redskins
is more than a name we have called our football team for over eight
decades. It is a symbol of everything we stand for: strength,
courage, pride, and respect — the same values we know guide Native
Americans and which are embedded throughout their rich history as the
original Americans.”
Daniel Snyder, in his letter to the
fans, referred to a poll from the “highly respected Annenberg
Public Policy Center,” which found that 90 percent of “1,000
self-identified Native Americans from across the continental U.S.”
did not see the Washington team name to be “offensive.”
On this point, one might wonder if the
“self-identified Native Americans” surveyed are really Indians —
members of a federally recognized Indian tribe, or of actual Indian
ancestry — or just non-Indians who were told at some point that
they have a Cherokee princess for a great grandmother.
In fact, the National Congress of
American Indians (NCAI), which is comprised of tribal leaders from
across the country, issued a 29-page report in October titled “Ending
the Legacy of Racism in Sports and the Era of Harmful ‘Indian’
Sports Mascots.” The NCAI says that “the use of racist and
derogatory ‘Indian’ sports mascots, logos, or symbols, is harmful
and perpetuates negative stereotypes of America’s first peoples.
Specifically, rather than honoring Native peoples, these caricatures
and stereotypes contribute to a disregard for the personhood of
Native peoples.”
I’ll see you in the street on Nov. 7.