Why Do Some Defend Chief Wahoo?

There are some really smart people who have no problem with Chief Wahoo, which I have never understood.  If you are not familiar than you are not reading this in Cleveland, because that racist depiction of an American Indian is everywhere.  It is the logo for the Cleveland Indians baseball team and is a gross exaggeration of human features such as a huge nose and smiling face that is the color of no human being on this planet. Every time I see it I just image a proud father trying to explain to his kid that his ancestors once dominated the land and now are the logo for some stupid baseball team.  How do you teach your 8 year old that with all the problems he is going to face, remember

the traditions of a hundred generations and forget these mascots and stereotypes.

It is the Black Sambo image tailored for the Native American population.  It is similar to the Nazi propaganda images used to dehumanize Jewish citizens of 1930s Germany.  It is disgusting and hate-filled toward a segment of the North American population.  There is no way that the Cleveland Baseball team should be allowed to trademark this image and generate funds from a racist cartoon.  But I see people that I respect or those with some intelligence walking around with this racist logo on their hats, chest and shorts.  Why? It may not hurt every single American Indian, but enough feel offended that we should just show respect and get rid of it. I have met with the American Indians in Cleveland and they really can't stand this logo. 

The Plain Dealer published an editor's defense of the racist logo, but that was Philip Morris who few would consider an intelligent broker of ideas in our community.  You would never believe this if you were strictly reading his angry screeds without seeing his smug face beside the text, he is an African American journalist.  Yeah, I know, he spends most of his time dividing and criticizing people especially minorities in Cleveland, and he had no problem with the logo.  I guess keeping your money and privilege is more important than blood and extended family.

There was a discussion on the radio a few days after the Cleveland Baseball team announced that they would eliminate the offensive logo after the 2018 season on Mike McIntyre's Sound of Ideas show on WCPN about Chief Wahoo.  Terry Pluto was measured and reasonable about the logo, but the other Plain Dealer Big Wig Ted Diadiun was trotted out to defend the local baseball teams use of this logo.  How much money has the Plain Dealer made off of publishing this logo?  The Indians and the Sports pages are really the last driver of money to the last daily newspaper in Cleveland.  They don't have job announcements, housing advertisements, and retail is near death. Government is cutting back on public notices and personals have moved online.   The PD has obituaries; they got the sports teams and special events for money, but that is about it.  So, no one from the media can be declared a fair arbiter of the value of this caricature.

Yes, Chief Wahoo is not the social justice movement of our time.  Yes, it is a cartoon and we have one incarnation of it or another for 70 years.  My point is that when someone says to you that it is painful for them to see their culture or ancestors depicted in such a distorted and gross manner why can't we hear their pain?  Why can't we respect when they say that it demoralizes them and makes them feel like they are lesser humans when they see this caricature?  Why don't we feel their anger when they say that it strips their children of dignity because their kid's classmates think of Chief Wahoo when someone says Indian or Native American?

Nazi Anti-Jewish Propaganda

I don't care if it is only 10% of the Native American population, can't we give up this stupid tradition?  These are American citizens who we should not alienate or purposely hurt.  This is not a one time cartoon that is gone as soon as it is seen.  This is on every pole in the stadium, every uniform, every cup, every souvenir, and half the people walking around Cleveland.  Imagine your ancestors were Shawnee or Erie and suffered the indignity of having their land taken 220 years ago, and now every single day you get poked in the eye with a laughing Chief Wahoo mocking you.  Why do we have to turn something fun like baseball into something that divides us?

I am not native American, but I would never put an offensive caricature on my shirt.  You never know who you are going to meet while out and about; maybe a real Sioux, Seneca or Cherokee.   How stupid would you feel if you met an actual Indian and you were wearing an offensive image of distorted convenience store manager?  Would you put the N-word with a Black Sambo on a shirt and then walk around the Lonnie Burton Community Center?

No one would visit Cleveland Mofongo Latin Grill with a shirt featuring a drunken Mexican with a giant sombrero, huge mustache and riding a small burro.   Would you visit Fairmount Temple with a propaganda image from Nazi Germany?  Of course not. We have put all those disgusting stereotypes in the dustbin of history (except the Apu of the Simpsons at this point).  Why do Native Americans and the people of India deserve less than other minority populations?

We seem to be giving a lot of weight to tradition here.  I hear a lot from supposedly smart people, "Oh, it is an image from my youth or I grew up with Chief Wahoo.  It is like Speedy Gonzalez or Foghorn Leghorn. They are all beloved characters from my youth."  Just like the dirty jokes and the smarmy behavior of Jordon Belfort (Wolf of Wall Street) that every American workplace previously tolerated, this is what tradition means.  Women may have laughed along, but they did not like being harassed and having their body touched or graded.  Native Americans may not tell some white survey taker that they don't mind their images and culture being used by sports teams because they have many other things to worry about, but there are enough who do care to make it matter.  Native Americans have one of the lowest life expectancy, the highest smoking rate, highest poverty rate among any population in the United States.  Americans have isolated, stolen, ignored and impoverished a whole segment of our population. We have used their sacred ceremonies, exaggerated their image, glorified genocide in the movies and exploited their culture for our own enjoyment.  We really suck. Can't we give them a break and get rid of the mascots?

By Brian Davis