A Misunderstood History
The Cleveland Indians baseball club is in the crosshairs of the “Woke” movement and is beating, the surely bad publicity, to the punch by announcing a name change for the upcoming campaign. Earlier this year Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Football Team, formerly nicknamed the Redskins, was pressured to finally give up the racist name. Let’s be clear, it is an offensive term but was not used by the fans in that regard. Comedian, Chris Rock, brought it to my attention in his special Bigger and Blacker, I believe, in the 90’s when he said, “Washington Redskins, that’s like calling the Knicks, the New York Niggers.” Of course it got a laugh, but his jokes also made us think a thought we would have never originated on our own, due to the blinders. Let’s have a discussion about the Indians and find out if we have reasonable grounds to change 105 years of history, shall we?
Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie was a player/manager and named captain shortly after his June 4th, 1903 debut drawing 10,000 fans to League Park. The team was renamed the Naps, (In honor of his last name, beats his nickname, The Frenchman) after a newspaper write-in contest. Charles Somers, owner of the Naps, wanted a name change for his Cleveland baseball club after Lajoie’s exit and the baseball writers repeated their request to the public. It’s said that a little girl wrote in and suggested, “Indians” for the team, specifically, in the honor of former outfielder of the Cleveland Spiders, Louis Francis Sockalexis, a Native American from the Penobscot tribe of Maine, who has claims to the first Native American to play MLB, nicknamed the Deerfoot of the Diamond from 1987-1899. Although, the paper did not mention Sockalexis upon Somers announcement but derogatory terms towards his origins, it was 1915 and I’m confident media culture did not appreciate the unique team name.
The new Cleveland Indians adopted the Chief Wahoo logo on the sleeve to “keep the Indians reminded of what the Braves did last year,” winning the World Series, as reported by The Plain Dealer on February 28th, 1915. The Tribe wore the logo for the last time against those cheating Houston Astros on Oct 8th, 2018 in a divisional playoff round loss. I can appreciate the argument against the big smiling, red faced, cartoon character, as offensive; even though I never felt that way about the mascot. I always pictured him on top of old municipal, bat in hand, taking a cut with strength, and the drums willing that ball deep into left center field; he was a righty.
The area of the Great Lakes was home to many Tribes including the Shawnee, Wyandotte, Ottawa, Seneca, Delaware, and Miami to name a few. As a child, our soccer teams were named after these Native American Tribes. I saw these names with power, strength, and a warrior like mentality. I found Indian culture fascinating. How is one not to be intrigued by hunting, bow and arrows, horseback riding, teepees, and rain dances?
The tragedy of the American Indian is well documented and horrific. When I drove through reservations in Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona I felt the shame of my ancestors disregard for humanity. Roofs in Montana were blue tarps, reminding me of the Virgin Island’s after a hurricane, but these people faced a brutal winter without adequate housing. There once colorful characteristics of a thriving civilization, are now in cookie cutter starter homes, wearing a wolf howling at the moon shirt from Wal-Mart, in Denny’s two tables over from me. The casinos authorized on the reservations, a minimal payment on North America. But, cancel culture will right histories past with a name change, PLEASE!
Instead, let us celebrate the name! This ball club is named in HONOR of a Native American! Why doesn’t the club and community put a hand out and ask the Penobscot tribe to endorse its heritage? This is how we bridge the divide, by inviting each other to participate in a game of competition, of teamwork. Our game is really their game, as their land is ours, there is no separation, but we like to think there is.
I can’t think of a more “Woke” movement than understanding history mistakes and turning a name, symbol, expression, thought, or association into a brand new, Oh, I never thought of it like that, ah hah moment!
So instead of changing the name, let us change first.
