Cleveland Indians: Chief Wahoo Needs To Be Permanently Retired
One of the controversial issues within Major League Baseball re-surfaced thanks to the wardrobe choice of an ESPN personality, reminding us that while steps have been taken to limit the damage of the situation, nothing short of completely removing Chief Wahoo as the Cleveland Indians logo altogether will be sufficient
Bomani Jones was a guest host on ESPN’s Mike and Mike Show on Thursday, during which he donned a t-shirt that was styled after the Cleveland Indians‘ logo, but read “Caucasians” instead of Indians, and featured a different character face also styled to resemble Chief Wahoo.
While some called the move nothing but a publicity stunt, Jones’ motivation is largely unimportant. Regardless of his rationale, his actions have reminded the sport world at large that a cartoon face mocking an entire culture and ethnic group is still used for commercial enterprise in the same nation such people inhabit in 2016.
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Cleveland has taken actions to scale back the use of Chief Wahoo. Just before the season started, the team’s owner Paul Dolan confirmed what we have been suspecting for years now. Dolan explained that the red-faced, feather-donning, cartoon smiling image would henceforth be the team’s secondary logo.
This is the course of action that Cleveland has chosen to take in the interest of balancing two separate and in this situation often competing interests. Cleveland wants to appear to as Dolan said, to have empathy for those who take issue with Chief Wahoo, from a public relations standpoint.
At the same time, and this is why Cleveland has no plans to completely remove Chief Wahoo from use completely, they also have their financial interests to consider. Merchandise bearing Chief Wahoo is still a hot-seller, and changing that might hurt Cleveland’s revenue.
This isn’t simply a matter of a logo that was poorly drawn or needs to be updated, however. This issue is much bigger than aesthetics, and should trump the fears of Cleveland losing part of the percentage of the revenue it makes off merchandise sales.
This issue is a tragic reminder that in the United States of America in 2016, people of Native American descent are still being used for commercial gain. Regardless of the application of Chief Wahoo, it represents an entire segment of the population in the US who have been abused for the profit of others throughout this nation’s history.
It’s easy to understand how Cleveland would prefer to simply phase the logo out over time, avoiding the publicity and controversy that could follow an announcement of Chief Wahoo’s total retirement. Along the way, they will continue to reap whatever profits they can from its use, regardless of the message it sends.
The message that is sent is that people of Native American descent don’t own their identity and history. That’s something that is in the public domain, free for anyone to use however they like. The blame for this situation isn’t solely on the shoulders of Dolan and his franchise, however.
Every time a piece of merchandise bearing Chief Wahoo is purchased, this situation is allowed to survive. The message that is sent back to Cleveland is that their using Chief Wahoo is a desirable act. If you are really looking for the guilty party in regards to Chief Wahoo, you need only look into a mirror.
It’s true that Chief Wahoo is part of Cleveland’s history and legacy. Not all legacies are good, however, and people of Native American descent should be able to control their own legacy instead of having it turned into a cartoon face and sewn on to hats to sell for $35 each.
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Chief Wahoo needs to be allowed to pass into that part of history that we can all learn from, and retiring Chief Wahoo is a responsibility that is shared by all of us who are fans of MLB.