1972: [Chief Wahoo] "It's degrading, demeaning and racist," Russell Means said. "It epitomizes the stereotyped image of the American Indian. It attacks the cultural heritage of the American Indian and destroys Indian pride."

August 28, 2017

$9 million warpath

American Indians don't like the image

projected by Cleveland's Chief Wahoo

1972 Jan 19, The Daily Reporter

.. The American Indian Center of Cleveland Ohio filed a $9 million damage suit.. against the Cleveland Indians baseball team for using a comic Indian head as the club's symbols..

[They also targeted Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Braves, Golden State Warriors and more than 30 colleges that have some sort of Indian nickname."

"It's degrading, demeaning and racist," Russell Means said. "It epitomizes the stereotyped image of the American Indian. It attacks the cultural heritage of the American Indian and destroys Indian pride."

1972 Jan 19, The Daily Reporter

1972 Jan 19, The Daily Reporter

.. Means also objected to Chief Noc-a-Homa of the Atlanta Braves, who runs out of a teepee and does a war dance every time the Braves hit a home run. "What if it was the Atlanta Germans and after every home run a German dressed in a military uniform began hitting a Jew on the head with a baseball bat?" He also said, "Or what if it were the Cleveland negroes and a black man came trotting out of a shanty in center field and did a soft shoe? Well, the Indian is tired of this label that depicts him to the larger segment of American society as something to be laughed at and not to be taken seriously and therefore not due respect."

Means was surprised to learn that Noc-a-Homa is really an Indian - Levi Walker, Jr. a 31 year old half Chippewa, half Ottawa. "It figures," Means said. "All the Chippewas used to do was hang around the fort anyways."

Mankato State to Phase Out Indian Mascot
1971 Oct 22, Star Tribune
.... but they'll keep the nickname and design a new symbol. Indian students attending the college requested the change. Mankato have been known as the Indians since 1935. The article says the Indian students didn't mind the name, they just didn't like the caricatures. But the name also changed around 1977.