With the Atlanta Braves’ recent World Series victory, calls have returned to change the team’s name and end fans’ use of the tomahawk chop, the chopping motion accompanied by an incantation. As Fawn Sharp, the president of the National Congress of American Indians, said last week, “In our discussions with the Atlanta Braves, we have repeatedly and unequivocally made our position clear: Native people are not mascots, and degrading rituals like the ‘tomahawk chop’ that dehumanize and harm us have no place in American society.”
The folks who believe that changing team names and fighting other forms of cultural insensitivity will improve the lives of Native Americans have made great strides in recent years. In 2020, the Washington Redskins changed the name of their team to — well, we don’t know yet. The Cleveland Indians, too, have retired their mascot. In 2020, the Chicago Board of Education voted to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, and other cities and towns have followed suit. A school district in Canada removed thousands of books from its libraries (and even burned 30) that allegedly portrayed indigenous people in an insensitive light.
