If you've been reading this blog for awhile (doubtful), you'd be familiar with my interest in protesting the use of American Indian mascots in sports. I've posted a few entries about it on this blog. Feel free to search for them. Yesterday, this movement to end oppressive cartoonish depictions of cultures in sports got a big win.
Recently, the Cleveland Indians posted a press release about their own Indian mascot caricature, Chief Wahoo. According to the Cleveland baseball franchise, they will officially retire Wahoo in 2019 after 70 years. The New York Times corroborates.
Before I go on, it is important to remember that this is a big deal for a movement that, until now, has only been able to convince organizations in semi-pro and amateur sports competitions (collegiate, and undergraduate level) to divest from problematic identities. The fact that this is a major league professional franchise with a 70 year investment in their mascot and identity is huge.
However, this won't happen until 2019. Also, the franchise will continue to offer Chief Wahoo merchandise in their direct market (the Cleveland area). They want to maintain the trademark. So, basically, the logo wont be truly retired, but at least it will be off the uniform, stadium, official franchise marketing, and global marketplace.
Philip Yenyo, director of AIM (American Indian Movement), sums up my thoughts about this pretty well. He says this decision is a "step in the right direction", but "why wait? [...] if you're going to go this far and get rid of it, why not do it now? All they are doing is testing it out, because the name has to go too. The nickname absolutely has to go. It's not just the logo".
And so, although this is a good thing, and should be celebrated by the movement, there is still more that needs to be done. The mascot issue is a two part problem, not only are the logos caricatures, but the nicknames, the identities of these teams and fanbases, are also unacceptable.
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