Just one Caucasian man’s thought: Native Americans should be honored and celebrated, not vilified or mocked by nicknames and logos used by sports franchises and school and university teams (or anyone else).
A team like the Cleveland Indians could flip the narrative to one that promotes an accurate portrayal of North American history and honors our Native American citizenry. I know that Clevelanders often call the team by its other nickname, the Tribe. What if that were the official name of the team, with the logo being some appropriate Native American spiritual or cultural symbol?
Same for the NFL team in Washington D.C. (I won’t even write the current nickname) and for the many collegiate and professional teams that portray Native Americans in pejorative ways.
This might be a greater service than a name change of some completely different sort. I write "might" with intention. Native American Tribes from the area where the sports team is located must be consulted. It is entirely possible that no Tribe or Nation would want any form of this, and that must be honored.
Our nation's support of current Native Americans only starts with this. We must do much more to socially and economically uplift our people of color.
Comments