Sports and team names: past the time to completely remove all indigenous cultural references
When the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians sports teams decided to make recent name changes to their franchises, this was seen as an honorable way to respect Native American and First Peoples culture. Even the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos ditched their mascot and now go by the name Edmonton Elks. As an avid sports fan and person of indigenous American descent, I applauded these moves.
Some would say team names are just mere ‘words’ and nothing more. Some would say that as sports fans, we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously.
I disagree.
There have been different schools of thought on the origin of the term ‘Redskin’. For some it conjures the image of removing an American Indian scalp as the bounty of a past war-time victory — not unlike the skinning of an animal such as a deer or raccoon. At a minimum, however, most academics would not deny that the term referred simply to a skin color of a tribal or American indigenous person. While I am not sure about the former, I consider the latter reference offensive — the same as the term of color (and worse) previously used for African Americans. Indeed, for many, a team name is certainly more than just a word.
If you’re a member of a tribal community in California, team names that cause derision are just as problematic.
Take for instance the San Diego Padres. The term padre is the Spanish word for father. The word father, in this context, refers not to a male parent, but to a member of a religious hierarchy — specifically in the Catholic Church.
Beginning in the late 1700s, Spanish settlers established what would eventually total 21 church Missions, running up and down the California coastline from San Diego to San Francisco. California native tribal peoples became the new residents of these establishments, forcibly marched off their lands. They involuntarily and immediately gave up their way of life to wear a new culture’s clothes and were obligated to learn a new culture’s language. Tragically, thousands of tribespeople were beaten, raped, and murdered — including many of my Luiseno ancestors. Scholars estimate that disease and desolation whittled the tribal population from 300- to 30-thousand members.
When you attend a Padres’ baseball game, the atmosphere is rife with celebratory nods to this abusive culture: the ringing of a Mission bell when the team hits a home run; the wearing jerseys and other memorabilia that idolize caricature-like images of a church friar swinging a baseball bat. Sure, for many in attendance such imagery and celebration goes on without a second thought. But, how many fans realize what they are truly celebrating? When you connect what that church bell represents to the rape of a Native American woman, for example, how does that make you feel?
I don’t like it. When thought of from this perspective, assuredly others don’t either. Yet teams can do something about it.
I call on the Padres — and others like them — to change their image. You can start by removing all references to Native Americans or First Peoples. I can think of a few others: Braves, Seminoles, Warriors, Chiefs, and the like. This applies to all facets of sport: professional, collegiate and at the lower school levels. And while you’re at it, you can do away with the pretend warrior Indian riding in on his horse (looking at you, Florida State), dressed in regalia — burning spear in hand — to kickoff a football game; you can stop chanting and ‘throwing’ tomahawk chops in the baseball stands. It is disrespectful to treat traditions that are not yours in such disdain. It is outrageous to play along to symbols whose connections have disparaged and harmed so many.
In naming themselves The Washington Football Team and the Cleveland Guardians the two teams have already made an applaudable start. But there’s much more work to do. The Atlanta baseball team, while discouraging the use of the tomahawk chop insists it will never change the Braves mascot name. However things might change. The National Hockey League’s Chicago Blackhawks squad retains its moniker but no longer allows fans to wear Native headdress at its contests. Again, these moves are steps in the right direction, but it’s not enough.
Until all sports teams completely remove references — whether it be a tribal name or affiliation, a tribal person, tribal dress, and other First Peoples imagery and symbols — any spirit of cooperation and respect will be seen as incomplete and disingenuous. The same goes for any cultural appropriation of the same. In a world where many ordinary people are learning to already do this at work, in school, and on social media, it is long past time for all sports organizations to follow suit.
