Indians need to cut their ties to Chief Wahoo once and for all

Had the Indians changed their name when they dumped Chief Wahoo going into the 2019 season, they would look like trailblazers, not reactionaries.

But racial equality comes with no color wheel. And while they appear to be following the NFL’s Washington team, pressured by sponsors into an internal review that is years overdue, the statement the Indians released Friday night saying they will further examine and consider the name’s future rightly foreshadows its end.

Like it or not — and many fans certainly won’t — the Indians name will never lose its connotation to Chief Wahoo, the grinning, racist cartoon character the team clung to for too long. That parting shouldn’t have required chiding from Major League Baseball before Cleveland hosted last year’s All-Star Game.

Part of the team’s revelation might have come from the Indians front office realizing the negative publicity it will continue to receive. On Friday, a segment on NBC’s “Today” show on the backing Washington might lose from FedEx, Nike and Pepsico included a shot of Chief Wahoo, bathing the franchise in the same red glow.

But it goes further than that. Protests over the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, set off worldwide protests over racial injustice.

As U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona) told the Washington Post in reference to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, “You either step into this century or you don’t.”

But if the Indians do decide on a name change, they should not be alone.

Teams at every level of sports, from high school to college to professional, should follow suit. The Atlanta Braves and Florida State Seminoles should get rid of their names, along with the repulsive Tomahawk Chop. The Chicago Blackhawks belong in the category, as do the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and some Notre Dame fans will put up their dukes at that suggestion.

“We have had ongoing discussions organizationally on these issues. The recent unrest in our community and our country has only underscored the need for us to keep improving as an organization on issues of social justice,” the Indians said in the statement.

“With that in mind, we are committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name. … We recognize our unique place in the community and are committed to listening, learning and acting in the manner that can best unite and inspire our city and all those who support our team.”

Sports should not be exempt from the national awakening on the cause. Names should no longer carry a connotation to race.

Actually, Little League International deserves the tag of trailblazer, instituting a policy in its 2019 Rulebook that banned the use of “racially insensitive, derogatory or discriminatory” team names and mascots, which included those with native themes.

But even if the Indians are a year or years too late, it is time to step into 2020. It is time to acknowledge that a 105-year-old name will be forever linked to the toothy Wahoo and represents something other than what was first intended.

Marla Ridenour writes for Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal.