Whahoo, Bye-bye

The Cleveland Indians announced they’re retiring the logo of Chief Wahoo, more or less, a decision sure to upset people on either side of the issue.  Me?  I think it’s long overdue, along with the depiction used by the Atlanta Braves.  That one has all the subtlety of a cartoon drawn by a 12-year old.

Starting next year, the logo will disappear from Cleveland uniforms, just as it has the last few years around Progressive Field.  However, the team will still sell some Wahoo stuff because, if it doesn’t, it would lose the trademark on the image.  If that happened, every crank in town could start stamping Chief Wahoo on all sorts of merchandise.  Talk about the lesser of two evils.

No doubt, a whole bunch of Indians’ fans will cling to the Chief because they can’t be told what to do or think.  (It would be interesting to correlate support for Chief Wahoo with that for Donald Trump.)  And there are people out there who see this as just a first step in getting the Indians to change their name.  Maybe.

It is odd that schools and professional teams across America were drawn to the idea of using Native Americans to symbolize strength and ability.  “We like how you guys fight,” the reasoning seemed to go, “and still lost in the end.”  Some honor.

With the Blackhawks, at least, it’s a caricature-free logo linked—unofficially—to a Sauk chief of considerable renown, although the real Black Hawk lost in the end as well.  But I wonder what the reaction would have been if the team had wanted to name itself for Crazy Horse, who beat Custer at the Little Big Horn.

That said, I think mascots and logos should be revisited and revised on a case-to-case basis.  Are we really served as a nation by removing all popular mention of a group?  I would say, No.  But the group in question has to be part of the conversation.  If alumni and fans at the University of Illinois have their hearts set on bringing back Chief Illiniwek, then reach out to the native communities of the state.  Hint:  no self-respecting Native American will accede to a 20-year old undergraduate playing dress-up while acting as if he’s stepping on hot coals at mid-court during a college basketball game.

Not all mascots are bad, not all replacements work.  Stanford used to be the Indians, now it’s a color (Red).  Unofficially, there’s also the Stanford Tree that shows up to games; that I like.  I also like the Minutemen of UMass-Amherst, even if some student-activists don’t because of supposed questions concerning colonization and gender.

I cast my vote for the Minutemen, if not President Trump.