EDITORIAL Indians are wise to leave Chief Wahoo behind
In an editorial we published almost two years ago, we noted the controversy that surrounded the Cleveland Indians’ Chief Wahoo logo – a grinning, big-nosed cartoon Indian – was far from the most pressing issue facing the country, and not even the most urgent in professional sports. The apparent brain damage suffered by many American football players after getting knocked around on the field would probably run away with that trophy.
Nevertheless, we suggested it was time for Chief Wahoo to become part of the Cleveland Indians’ storied history and retired.
“While part of the team’s heritage, it is time for the Cleveland Indians to fully enter the 21st century,” we wrote.
For the last couple of years, the Indians’ owners have been slowly nudging Wahoo away, and this week they made the break, announcing Wahoo would not be featured on team uniforms after the 2018 season, even though the team will retain the rights to the image. In the 2019 season, the team’s uniforms will have a patch commemorating the All-Star Game, scheduled for Progressive Field in Cleveland that year, and what comes after is to be determined.
Not surprisingly, some Indians fans have been in a state of high dudgeon since the announcement. Some cite its familiarity and the nostalgia it evokes, while others howl the Indians are caving in to the forces of political correctness. But, like it or not, Chief Wahoo was a racist symbol that was offensive to many Native Americans. Rob Manfred, the commissioner of baseball, urged the Indians to drop the insignia. Protests were an occasional feature outside Indians games. The team was also hit with a discrimination claim in Canada last year from a human rights activist who argued Wahoo was racist. He asked that the insignia not be displayed anywhere in the province of Ontario.
The level of discord Wahoo was provoking almost certainly led the Indians to decide the chief was simply not worth the trouble anymore.
An editorial in Cleveland’s Plain Dealer newspaper put it well: “It does nothing to taint one’s love of team and long affection for an image beloved in childhood to let it go. Rather, it is a uniquely human attribute to be able to reflect, to change attitudes, to see issues from a new perspective. Nor is it simply political correctness to recognize that Wahoo is an offensive image to those whom it caricatures, and a … stereotyped exaggeration to all who embrace it.”
We should also note, in our editorial two years ago, we looked back on how the Atlanta Braves bade farewell to their teepee-dwelling mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa in 1986, and within five years embarked on a 14-year winning streak that included five trips to the World Series. In the time since the Indians decided to demote Wahoo, they’ve made a trip to the World Series and came darn close to winning it, and were in the American League playoffs last season. Any sports team is subject to the vagaries of fate, but most signs point to the Indians being contenders again once the season starts in late March.
A coincidence? It is, of course, unless you’re a believer in karma. But with Chief Wahoo being given the heave-ho, the team can now fully concentrate on putting together a winning season. Alas, that’s something our own Pittsburgh Pirates seem unable or unwilling to do.