Cleveland Indians Step Up to the Plate

Indians logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team. The term Indians is general in the sense that it can be seen as not as offensive in comparison to other sports teams’ mascots. However, the Cleveland Indians have been known for their offensive mascot Chief Wahoo – A caricature image of a red skinned chief.

The depiction of the chief is all but what a chief does not stand for. The image is of a bright red complexion and a feathered headband playing up to Native American stereotypes. This mascot has experience much backlash from the Native American community with picketers at games holding signs saying, “People Not Mascots” or “Stop Teaching Your Children Racism.” While there are people who are protesting the existence of the mascot there are equally as many, if not more supporting its existence.

Photo credit: http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/cle/fan_forum/slider.jsp

Today the Cleveland Indians have kept their name but phased out Chief Wahoo due to its offensive depiction of Native Americans. Since then the team has adopted a new mascot by the name of Slider. Slider is a creature of some sort, who is fuzzy purple and yellow character who sports the Cleveland Indians uniform at every game.

The Cleveland Indians are an example of the change of in sports and media. Hopefully the Cleveland Indians will set the trend for other major league sports in the relinquishing of the improper use of Native American symbols and names as mascots.

What’s in a Name?

Atlanta Braves infielder Martín Prado (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The controversy over the use of Native American names and symbols has been looming over the past few decades. For both sides of the argument there are many ties to tradition whether it is traditions of a sports team or of a culture.

While looking at many different universities, schools and sports teams’ mascot controversies I have noticed a lot of similarities in the pro-side mascot side of the argument. Although all of these mascots are not the same and have their own traditions, pro-mascot fans have a common argument: Our mascot honors Native Americans.

This argument to the controversy has come up many times in my finding within this issue. Most people believe that because the mascot is not meant to be offensive people should not perceive it to be so.

There are also some team names where the name itself does not necessarily connote a negative stigma but it is more of what teams have done with that name. For example the Atlanta Braves baseball team, the term Braves does refer to Native Americans however it is not perceived as a racial slur unlike the Washington Redskins. Although the term “Braves” itself is not seen as offensive, the actual depiction of the mascot can be seen as politically incorrect and insulting to the Native American culture.

Oregon Schools Ban Native American Mascots

English: my own pic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Following the NCAA ban of Native American representations as collegiate mascots, school districts across the nation began to question the perception of their own mascots. Beginning in the 1970s school districts began to analyze the use of Native American representations and changed their mascots or graphics.

Since this time, there have been more than 600 schools to change their mascots. Out of these schools 20 of them were in Oregon. As a state Oregon has implemented some of the most strict restrictions on the use of Native American logos, symbols or names for schools. Schools have until July of 2017 to make changes to names and mascots or face the risk of losing state funding.

High school students (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While a vote within Salem’s Education Board was 5-1 in favor of changing the mascots, there are still community members who are resisting the change. Supporters of the current mascot argue that the costs of changing all printed uniforms and sports equipment along with other items is unaffordable for the district. The reason for these changes is because the Oregon Board of Education deemed the use of Native American symbols and names as offensive.