Post by Okwes on Jul 15, 2007 16:17:29 GMT -5
Bud sends Indians & insulting message to Rights Game
Major League Baseball dubbed it the Civil Rights Game, a
well-intentioned celebration of baseball's harried, minority pioneers.
But then somebody invited the Cleveland Indians, and the event has been
sabotaged by ignorance and long-practiced indifference.
With this inaugural theme exhibition set for March31 in Memphis,
officials have created a perfect storm of political incorrectness - a
who-what-when-where primer on how to inadvertently stage an ironic
insult to a local and large population of Natives.
Who: The Cleveland Indians, a team famous for its Chief Wahoo cartoon
caps, will face the St.Louis Cardinals.
What: The Civil Rights Game, televised by ESPN, the first of its kind.
When: A particularly dicey time in Cherokee/African-American relations,
as the Cherokees consider appeals from the black community after an
unfortunate vote to revoke tribal citizenship from descendants of freed
slaves.
Where: In Memphis, along the Southern land route of the Trail of Tears,
a genocidal, forced march of Cherokees in 1838. The relocation was
mandated by President Andrew Jackson, and caused the death of at least
4,000 Indians, many buried in shallow graves. Tens of thousands of
Cherokee descendants now live in and around the city.
How this happened: Professional baseball apparently wants to pretend
that Native Americans are all dead and don't matter, like dinosaurs.
"It's disgusting," said Alice Gwin Henry, president of the Faraway
Cherokees in Memphis. "It tells you where they're coming from. We try
not to be overbearing when it comes to the use of names, but nobody has
addressed the Trail of Tears as it's associated with an abuse of civil
rights.
"My family was on the Trail of Tears. We feel offended that they would
bring a team here called the Indians. It's racist. We aren't gone."
Henry's group will not stage a protest, because her organization is
registered as a non-political association. She said others might, and
for good reason.
Chief Wahoo has long been given a tacit go-ahead from Bud Selig, the
same commissioner who has done so much in recognizing the contributions
of African-Americans and in confessing the past exclusionary policies of
baseball. Selig has embraced the legacy of Jackie Robinson and other
black pioneers.
Unlike steroid testing or luxury taxes, Chief Wahoo is a very simple
issue. Selig could snap his fingers, compensate the Cleveland franchise
for lost licensing dollars, and make the logo go away.
The lack of empathy on this issue is truly inexplicable. One race can't
commit genocide against another, then turn that race into a mascot. A
soccer team in Hamburg would never call itself the Jews and adorn its
uniforms with caricatures. It certainly would never hold a celebratory
civil rights game along the trail of a World War II death march.
"Cartoon character imagery like Cleveland's logo, depicting a
wide-smiling Indian, tells other non-Indian people, especially kids,
that it's OK to continue this exploitative mockery," said Pat Cummins,
vice president of the Alliance for Native American Indian Rights of
Tennessee. "Native American people have had enough and demand an end to
it."
The Cleveland Indians were selected for this game, in part, because of
their long history of African-American pioneers, including the first
black American Leaguer, Larry Doby, and first black manager, Frank
Robinson. A spokesperson at Major League Baseball said that logos will
be removed from the Indians and Cardinals uniforms for this one game.
This is proof the commissioner's office understands, on some level, that
Chief Wahoo is the wrong message.
Bob DiBiasio, vice president of public relations for the Cleveland
Indians, insists the nickname and logo remain a matter of "individual
perception."
"When some people look at our logo they see baseball," DiBiasio said.
"They see Bob Feller and Omar Vizquel and Larry Doby. The Wall Street
Journal did an op-ed piece, and they asked the question, 'If something
is not meant to demean, can it be demeaning?'"
DiBiasio also cited the history of the nickname, "Indians," which is
under some dispute. He said that reporters back in 1914 named the team
in honor of a Native American star, Louis Sockalexis, who played in
Cleveland from 1897-1899. Other historians contend those newspapermen
chose the name less because of Sockalexis and more because the "Miracle
Braves" of Boston were very much in fashion.
Either way, the Cleveland Indians are coming to Memphis this month, a
harsh, unnecessary slap in the face to the Cherokee. The team may be met
with protests, but these Indians will be spared a forced march through
Arkansas
Major League Baseball dubbed it the Civil Rights Game, a
well-intentioned celebration of baseball's harried, minority pioneers.
But then somebody invited the Cleveland Indians, and the event has been
sabotaged by ignorance and long-practiced indifference.
With this inaugural theme exhibition set for March31 in Memphis,
officials have created a perfect storm of political incorrectness - a
who-what-when-where primer on how to inadvertently stage an ironic
insult to a local and large population of Natives.
Who: The Cleveland Indians, a team famous for its Chief Wahoo cartoon
caps, will face the St.Louis Cardinals.
What: The Civil Rights Game, televised by ESPN, the first of its kind.
When: A particularly dicey time in Cherokee/African-American relations,
as the Cherokees consider appeals from the black community after an
unfortunate vote to revoke tribal citizenship from descendants of freed
slaves.
Where: In Memphis, along the Southern land route of the Trail of Tears,
a genocidal, forced march of Cherokees in 1838. The relocation was
mandated by President Andrew Jackson, and caused the death of at least
4,000 Indians, many buried in shallow graves. Tens of thousands of
Cherokee descendants now live in and around the city.
How this happened: Professional baseball apparently wants to pretend
that Native Americans are all dead and don't matter, like dinosaurs.
"It's disgusting," said Alice Gwin Henry, president of the Faraway
Cherokees in Memphis. "It tells you where they're coming from. We try
not to be overbearing when it comes to the use of names, but nobody has
addressed the Trail of Tears as it's associated with an abuse of civil
rights.
"My family was on the Trail of Tears. We feel offended that they would
bring a team here called the Indians. It's racist. We aren't gone."
Henry's group will not stage a protest, because her organization is
registered as a non-political association. She said others might, and
for good reason.
Chief Wahoo has long been given a tacit go-ahead from Bud Selig, the
same commissioner who has done so much in recognizing the contributions
of African-Americans and in confessing the past exclusionary policies of
baseball. Selig has embraced the legacy of Jackie Robinson and other
black pioneers.
Unlike steroid testing or luxury taxes, Chief Wahoo is a very simple
issue. Selig could snap his fingers, compensate the Cleveland franchise
for lost licensing dollars, and make the logo go away.
The lack of empathy on this issue is truly inexplicable. One race can't
commit genocide against another, then turn that race into a mascot. A
soccer team in Hamburg would never call itself the Jews and adorn its
uniforms with caricatures. It certainly would never hold a celebratory
civil rights game along the trail of a World War II death march.
"Cartoon character imagery like Cleveland's logo, depicting a
wide-smiling Indian, tells other non-Indian people, especially kids,
that it's OK to continue this exploitative mockery," said Pat Cummins,
vice president of the Alliance for Native American Indian Rights of
Tennessee. "Native American people have had enough and demand an end to
it."
The Cleveland Indians were selected for this game, in part, because of
their long history of African-American pioneers, including the first
black American Leaguer, Larry Doby, and first black manager, Frank
Robinson. A spokesperson at Major League Baseball said that logos will
be removed from the Indians and Cardinals uniforms for this one game.
This is proof the commissioner's office understands, on some level, that
Chief Wahoo is the wrong message.
Bob DiBiasio, vice president of public relations for the Cleveland
Indians, insists the nickname and logo remain a matter of "individual
perception."
"When some people look at our logo they see baseball," DiBiasio said.
"They see Bob Feller and Omar Vizquel and Larry Doby. The Wall Street
Journal did an op-ed piece, and they asked the question, 'If something
is not meant to demean, can it be demeaning?'"
DiBiasio also cited the history of the nickname, "Indians," which is
under some dispute. He said that reporters back in 1914 named the team
in honor of a Native American star, Louis Sockalexis, who played in
Cleveland from 1897-1899. Other historians contend those newspapermen
chose the name less because of Sockalexis and more because the "Miracle
Braves" of Boston were very much in fashion.
Either way, the Cleveland Indians are coming to Memphis this month, a
harsh, unnecessary slap in the face to the Cherokee. The team may be met
with protests, but these Indians will be spared a forced march through
Arkansas