Letters to the Editor
-
Right You Are,
Mr. Kaufmann. I appreciate you writing this and making this statement. Every time I see that horrid caricature on the uniform of that great baseball team I wince. I think the fans in the clown faces really made it clear, though how anyone could not find wahoo offensive (or at least understand how others find it offensive) is beyond me. Thank you for speaking up.
-
Wahoo Must Go
My lovely, unassuming bride believes that Chief Wahoo's single, strong feather looks like an insulting middle finger. She is not from Cleveland. She only notices because my pal Jerry from Cleveland visits, and we watch Indians' games together.
Clevelanders such as Jerry and (originally) I really like Chief Wahoo. Honestly, he makes real Clevelanders like real Native Americans more than we otherwise would. But he is inexcusable. Jerry does not get it, because he has lived in Cleveland his whole life.
But we need to find a nice C for the Cleveland hats. And, soon, we need a new name. Spiders? No. How about "The Cleveland Pakistanis?"
-
wahoo...whatever
It's embarrassing, juvenile and to put a point to it, disgusting. Seeing photos of fans in such a blatantly racist manner made me cringe and (almost) be ashamed to be a baseball fan. And if they win, then let's just hope that Denver's Rocktober stays on it's high and puts this sad spectacle to shame.
-
Wahoo pops up a lot, actually.
I don't have cable, so I've been "watching" the games via ESPN's very lively Score Tracker. And if you look at the play-by-play column on the right side of the game, you get the same image, inning after inning, next to the description of each Indians at-bat or relief pitcher or what have you...a tiny, mocking, ugly Chief Wahoo. Over and over again. When you have a seven-run inning, like the Tribe did the last two games? You get a formidable stack of Wahoos grinning at you from the screen. It is just about enough to make me surf elsewhere.
I went to Illinois and was glad when they retired the Happy Dancing Chief Illiniwek...but even the iconography there wasn't half as bad as Wahoo.
The Indians are a great and scrappy team and all, but Go Rockies.
-
Interesting that you bring Little Black Sambo into this.
Because Little Black Sambo is a children's book telling an Indian story (as in, written by someone [Helen Bannerman] visiting India). The tale involves eating a whopping amount of pancakes and being chased by tigers which turn themselves into ghee (translated as butter).
The tip-off is the tigers. Tigers have been extinct in Africa for a very long time, but they are indigeneous to India. It is a small point, but a point nonetheless: there is nothing inherently racist about Little Black Sambo. Just because it is widely assumed doesn't make it true.
-
Atlanta Braves = Cleveland Indians (as insensitive team branding goes)
While I don't think they have an "Indian" mascot, the Braves are in the same boat as the Indians. They use all manner of Native American stereotypical symbolism and that horrible chant with the tomahawk chop routine. And the name Braves is as bad as Indians, both names white settlers used to name Native Americans, all because Columbus thought he landed in India.
-
Grow a pair
You know, I take offense at the stereotypical treatment of New York players. All that Yankee stuff. Those pinstripes. I feel that's racially stereotyping too.
Think about it for a minute.
I think they should change their names as well. As well as those pinstripes. How Manhattan! Sheesh.
-
It's Tribe time now in Iraq.
Whether the team was named after Louis Sox is one thing. But if you go to the new Heritage Park out beyond the fence you are not going to find him there. At least earlier this season. I wrote a letter to the indians and didn't hear back.
I'm not smart enough to parse what's going on in the stands but I know mixing cultures- Native @ African has enriched our lives with art and rock'n'roll. For the fans it's like a messed up pride with nowhere to go. Is it beautiful or ugly? It points to something people don't acknowledge. It certainly hurt to see those clowns with triangles on their faces. One the other hand who doesn't want to paint their faces to go into battle? The Boston Tea Party anyone? Does the minstrel show honor the soul or dishonor the soul?
Does Louis Sockalexus merit mention in Heritage Park considering he only played a year and a half? Maybe they could just mention the huge homer he hit in New York.
If we are playing Indian here, one might point out that there was a man of Native descent, standing on a MOUND, playing for the Yankees against the Indians when the bugs attacked. Please don't attack me for a stretch of imagination. I just beleive playing Indian is playing divine- playing human. If steriods shrink your balls and give you boobs, are you playing with the feminine grace of cat? An Erie cat? Like a gay man moving a couch? The assured strength of first movement. I would think that masculine energy needs to flow back to play 162+. But then again drugs is drugs.
If it was the Washington Whiteskins, what would the logo be? instead of a chief? a printing press? a sword? a handshake? some smallpox?
In the words of George Carlin-"First down Ohio, Midwest to go."
Lose the logo.
-
death to wahoo
couldn't agree more with king and most of the posts. as someone who grew up in northeast ohio, i've been an indians fan all my life. that said, by the time i reached my twenties i had grave misgivings about yahoo. in fact, it's gotten to the point where i hesitate to buy team gear with the word indians on it ... which yeah, kinda limits me. (basically resigned to ballcaps with a "C" on them.)
but the sad fact is that political correctness in this country is heirarchical and selective. basically, if you're a jew or a black, you can scream "fire" and clear the aisles. not so with other minorities, homosexuals or non-christians. this is why i roll my eyes when an imus/rutgers brouhaha spins out of control. not that i don't think what imus said was wrong, but that political correctness is not equal across the board.
activists like sharpton and jesse would do themselves a world of good to occasionally take on a non-black issue like chief wahoo.