Saturday, February 24, 2018
Chief Wahoo's Last Hurrah
The Cleveland Indians mascot Chief Wahoo is a crude caricature of a Native American that many people find offensive. Recently, the team has agreed to no longer feature the mascot on its uniform or official publications. A private school in the Cleveland area tolerated this offensive caricature when it was restricted to a once weekly dress down day. However, when the school switched to a more relaxed dress that allowed sports wear on any day, the administration decided to ban any apparel that featured Chief Wahoo's likeness. Several students are bothered by this policy because they revere Chief Wahoo as vital symbol of their team and see wearing it as an example of team spirit and civic pride. Did the school administration make the right decision? How might the offense principle apply in this circumstance?
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I am going to address administration banning the logo at school first. Why would you ban a logo that is used daily by the professional sports team,I understand that it is not being used on the uniforms any longer, but they are still going to be selling chief wahoo merchandise. It is a racist caricature i'm not arguing that it isn't racist, but Hawken is trying to create an unrealistic bubble from the real world by banning the chief. The chief has been apart of the Indians since the 1940's. The chief is inherently racist but the name Indians is actually liked by native american communities because the team is celebrating the massive native american influence in North East Ohio. The offense to other principles applies to the situation because the logo is a racist caricature targeted at native Americans. Rather than celebrating the native american heritage the Indians chose this logo. They could change the script if they did what the Florida State Seminoles did which was bring in native american groups to redesign their racist logo. This redesign helped both sides keep the celebration of native Americans while not making the image harm all the native Americans. I think its great that the Indians are going away from chief wahoo, but they could redesign the logo to help cherish the native american community in North East Ohio.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Hawken banned wearing Chief Wahoo before the Indians officially stopped wearing it. I do understand the racist connotations that it has towards Native Americans, but it was still our logo. How could you tell people they are not allowed to wear gear from their hometown sports team to school but anyone else can wear whatever team they want? Hawken wants to create an unrealistic safety net around the school suppressing and banning anything that they do not like or think that is offensive. News flash, that is not how the world works. This is setting up students to be those kinds of people who get offended by everything they disagree with and not being able to handle being uncomfortable by something without making a big deal about it. I do not disagree with the fact that the Indians should redesign the logo, but Hawken is too sensitive towards these situations. I do not think that Hawken should be able to ban a certain type of clothing before the actual team changes the logo. Many Indians retail still has Chief Wahoo on it and let us say that I am a relatively lower-class family compared to the rest of Hawken students. What if we had a dress down day where you can wear anything as long as it was Cleveland sports related and the only shirt that I have has a Chief Wahoo on it because I bought it before the ban. I do not have enough money to go buy new gear so the school is saying that I am not allowed to dress down. Although this is an unlikely example at our school, it brings up the question of whether it is ok to ban this type of wear or not.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that the banning of the Chief Wahoo logo was an attempt by the administration to prevent the members of the school who may be offended from being offended. I understand and respect the idea of members of a society not feeling discriminated against as I am obviously all for equality; however, I do believe that the Chief Wahoo logo is being blown out of proportion in general. When I look at the logo, I see the smiling face that it entails, not the color of the skin. Had the Indians chose a different color for the skin of the logo other than red, the offense level would not be nearly as high. For example, if it had been blue or purple, the reaction would likely not be the same. In addition, I feel as if banning this from schools is forming a bubble around a community that will not be nearly as 'protected' as it will be in the outside world. Students at this school will still be subject to seeing the previous team logo on shirts, jackets, pants, shorts, shoes, scarves, hats, and much more outside of school. The Indians logo has been around for a long time and was not intentionally made to be prejudice and has become part of the spirit of the team and still has no intent to be intentionally hurting or offending anyone. This is the reason for the Indians agreeing to remove the logo from their jerseys, as to prove to society that they are not trying to offend people purposefully; however, they have not fully gotten rid of the logo as it is still being sold on apparel as it is part of something greater, a team, fans. While I understand the idea of the administration to ban this logo, I do not feel as if it is offensive as I look at the logo that has been a part the Indians, has been with them during their growth as a team, and I look at the wide smile it has on its face not the color of the skin. The unrealistic protection against this logo that the school is trying to enforce is creating a society enclosed by a protective bubble that the real world does not involve. The administration feels the need to block any content that may be sensitive which I do not always view as the correct approach.