On Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs crushed the Tennessee Titans, securing a spot in the Super Bowl for the first time since 1970.
The win thrilled Chiefs fans in Kansas City and beyond, but not everyone was so excited for the team from the plains.
“Congrats to Kansas City’s long-suffering fans, who’ve waited their entire lives to get back to a Super Bowl,” sports columnist Mike Wise tweeted. “Based on personal conviction, I hope they understand I can’t root for any Native-themed team to win it all, especially one that participates in the Tomahawk Chop in 2020.”
In other words, because the Chiefs use a passé form of celebration, they’re not worth cheering for at all.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ fans themselves have long been a source of controversy thanks to the “Arrowhead Chop.” Like the Florida State Seminoles or the Atlanta Braves, the Chiefs have a long-standing tradition of fans chanting and mimicking the use of a Native American tomahawk.
The Kansas City Star editorial board has called for an end to “divisive” tradition, calling it “racially insensitive and entirely unnecessary.”
In 2020, it’s time for the Native American caricature to fall out of fashion. But that doesn’t mean you can’t cheer for the Chiefs.
Despite a movement to remove all Native American imagery from professional sports teams, the symbolism may not be as offensive as advocates for change make it out to be. According to a Washington Post poll from 2016, 90% of Native Americans were not offended by the Washington Redskins name.
Even if the names and mascots don’t reference minorities, some people will always find reasons to take offense. Students at California State University, Long Beach, deemed the school’s mascot, Prospector Pete, an “icon of genocide.”
None of this is to say that it’s not time to rethink the tomahawk chop and other Native American symbolism. But does that mean you can’t root for the Chiefs at the Super Bowl? Not at all.
