January 29, 2018 Descendant of 1st Native American big league ballplayer welcomes Cleveland scrapping 'Chief Wahoo'

Cleveland claimed team name, logo honoured Louis Sockalexis

By Jorge Barrera, CBC News 
Posted: Jan 29, 2018

A descendant of the first Native American to play major league baseball says the Cleveland Indians' decision to scrap its "Chief Wahoo" logo is a good move, but it won't "mend the pain" caused by the caricature. .. Click here to read the entire story ..

"It's a great move on behalf of major league baseball to recognize the fact that dehumanizing any race or any creed of man is wrong," said Chris Sockalexis, 

a tribal historic preservation officer with the Penobscot Indian Nation, in eastern Maine.

Robert Roche, a Chiricahua Native American who lives in Cleveland and is part of the People Not Mascots organization, has fought the Cleveland Indians over their name and logo for more than 40 years. ""It is only so they can placate people and continue making the money," said Roche, in a telephone interview. "It is the biggest sports memorabilia seller in the world." Roche said he won't stop the fight until the team changes its name and scraps its logo completely. "I watched how it impacted my children, our children in the community, in the school system," said Roche.  "This isn't about someone yelling about something they don't like, it is something affecting our communities nationwide and they are finally recognizing it."