1972 “It’s the caricatures that are used – and – or mascots – used to depict or illustrate the names the we quarrel with.” - Russell Means

1972 Nov 10, Tallahassee Democrat 

Mail Pow-wow supports Indians
1972 Feb 11, The Morning News 
       Cleveland – Most of the mail received regarding a $9 million damage suit against the Cleveland Indians baseball team has opposed the suit, according to the head of the Indian group which filed it.
      “Sixty per cent are hate letters and 40 per cent support it,” said Russell Means, director of the Cleveland American Indian Center.
      But Means adds, “Every Indian person that has written to us… he supported us. We have not received a negative letter from any native.”
      Means said he realized when the suit was filed and plans were announced for future suits against other teams, such as the Atlanta Braves, that Indians were attacking the “sacred American institution” of sports and would probably be criticized.
      Regarding the proposed Atlanta suit, Means denied a quote attributed to him in a recent interview with the Atlanta Journal and distributed by the Associated Press.
      The interview concerned a mascot of the Braves, Chief Noc-A-Homa, actually 31-year-old Levi Walker, Jr, a half-Chippewa’s and half Ottawa.
      When he learned of Walker’s Chippewa background, Means was quoted as saying “It figures. All they used to do was hang out around the fort anyway.”

1972 Feb 11, The Morning News 

      Means said he was misunderstood: that he was talking about Walker as one of those the Indian movement considers to be a hang-around-the-fort person, not the Chippewa nation in general.      Means said that the action against the Braves and other clubs would be withheld “until they find out the results of ours.”
      “The Washington Redskins asked to meet with representative Indian people in DC,” said Means. He noted the move showed “an attempt to create some sort of dialogue… just as we have tried to do for the last two years with the Cleveland Indians, but with no response.”
      “We have no quarrel with the name of the Indians as being Indians as we realize that 40 of the 50 states’ …. Names have Indian origins. The lakes, rivers, mountains, cities – all have names with Indian origins. We’re proud of that fact.
      “It’s the caricatures that are used – and – or mascots – used to depict or illustrate the names the we quarrel with.”