White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says we should listen to Native Americans when it comes to renaming sports teams. But if we did, we wouldn’t be renaming any of them.
President Joe Biden hosted the Atlanta Braves to celebrate their 2021 World Series championship while his administration scolded them for their name. When asked about the team name and the Braves’ “tomahawk chop” celebration, Jean-Pierre said it’s “important” to have a conversation about renaming the team.
Biden “has consistently emphasized that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” Jean-Pierre said. “You hear that often from this president. The same is true here. And we should listen to Native American and indigenous people who are the most impacted by this.”
Of course, were that true, the Washington Redskins would never have had to change their name to something silly like the “Commanders.” The Washington Post found that 90% of Native Americans did not find the name offensive or think it a slur, even though woke (mostly white) journalists and academics claimed that it was. Just 9% of Native Americans were offended by the name.
But the Redskins were renamed anyway, thanks to media and corporate pressure. The Cleveland Indians preemptively renamed themselves to avoid all the bullying and pressure. And the Braves likely won’t be far behind, nor will the Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Blackhawks, or Florida State Seminoles.
Teams named themselves after American Indians because of their bravery and nobility. Ironically, the liberal idea of treating Native Americans with “dignity and respect” on this issue is to ignore them and erase them from our culture entirely.
The Minnesota Vikings don’t offend Scandinavians, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish don’t offend the Irish (just one loser at ESPN), and the Houston Texans don’t offend, well, Texans — nor, as polls have shown, do any of the team names that have been deemed offensive by liberals actually offend Native Americans.
Perhaps liberal journalists, and the Biden administration, should stop infantilizing Native Americans and start trying to just enjoy sports like normal people.
