Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510190045
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Her hero, Mickey Mantle, died this year and her beloved Dodgers were swept out of the playoffs by the Cincinnati Reds. What could possibly be worse for Suzan Shown Harjo?
Try a World Series that features the Cleveland Indians and Chief Wahoo against the Atlanta Braves and the Tomahawk Chop.
``It's sort of like drive-by racism, with bullets for an unintended victim,'' said Harjo, director of the Morning Star Institute in Washington that promotes Native American cultures and traditions.
American Indian groups have vehemently protested the use of Indian nicknames, mascots and, worst of all, the chanting and whooping they say is demeaning to native cultures.
In a season already filled with replacement spring training and a season cut to 144 games because of the strike, baseball fans who find the nicknames and images offensive are getting the worst of both worlds.
``I was listening to the radio and one of the sports commentators said, `When they do the Tomahawk Chop, which Indians are they cheering for?''' said Ray Apodaca of the Administration for Native Americans. ``I expect to see a lot of things that are going to be offensive in characterizations.''
Chief Wahoo belongs to Cleveland, a red-faced, smiling Indian who adorns everything from hats to shirts to placards that fans wave. Cleveland had a huge symbol of Chief Wahoo outside old Cleveland Stadium; he didn't make the move to Jacobs Field.
There were some protests of the symbol during playoff games.
``There's not really much to say that hasn't already been said,'' said Indians vice president Bob DiBiasio. ``As long as Mr. [Richard] Jacobs owns the team, Chief Wahoo will be our logo.''
Chief Noc-A-Homa used to banter about a tepee beyond the outfield fence in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium. The mascot left before the 1986 season because of a salary dispute with the Braves.
Now, the Braves are known almost as much for the Tomahawk Chop as they are for having the best pitching staff in baseball.
``It constitutes an unwarranted attack on us as a people in the same way that little black Sambo was an affront to African-Americans and the Frito Bandito was an affront to Chicanos,'' said Harjo, a native Oklahoman and member of the Cheyenne-Arapaho tribe.
Cleveland got its nickname in 1915 during a newspaper name-the-team contest. Indians was suggested because of Louis Francis Sockalexis, a Penobscot Indian who was the first Native American to play pro baseball.
The Braves, who first played in Boston, were once owned by John Ward and James E. Gaffney, ``chieftains'' in the Tammany Hall organization. The team was called Braves because they worked for these chiefs, not because of any Indian association.
If the names were supposed to be harmless, some feel the actions are not.
``A lot of negative reaction is in the way the image is portrayed,'' Apodaca said. ``It's offensive to see people dressed in chicken feathers, painted in what they call war paint, doing tomahawk chops and war whoops. None of that is Indian, and all of it is very demeaning.''
An Indians-Braves World Series could lead to an interesting dilemna for The Oregonian and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, two newspapers that have banned the use of Indian nicknames in their sports columns.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB