CHANGE THE NAME, CHANGE THE LOGO

Cleveland’s professional baseball team, the “Indians”, does not only equate American Indian people with ferocious animals in the symbolic realm. It affects the everyday lives of American-Indians because stereotypical ideas about Indians, embedded in the culture for hundreds of years, have replaced genuine concerns for the identities, communities, and cultures of American-Indian people. The treatment of American-Indian protestors outside the Cleveland baseball stadium illustrates this point. Protestors witness first-hand how the purportedly "harmless" team name causes baseball fans to callously disregard the history and humanity of American-Indian people. They angrily yell insults like "Go back to where you came from!" and "We won, so get lost!” at protestors. They also don feathers and face paint for entertainment purposes, although these items are sacred to American-Indian people. Fans supporting their much adored “Tribe” simultaneously snub their noses at (or flip the bird to) actual Indians struggling to convey a simple message: We are people, not mascots.
(Excerpts from the article written by Michelle Jacobs, “100 Years – Long Enough!” 2014)