The Cleveland Indians have decided to rename themselves after months of the debate triggered by George Floyd’s passing and a national reckoning with racial and colonial injustice. After consulting with the team’s supporters, players, local & national Native American organizations, Cleveland civic leaders, business sponsors, and top Native American researchers, team owner Paul Dolan announced the choice on Monday.
Announcement Of Paul Dolan
Paul Dolan writes to Indian fans- According to Dolan, “Our role is to bring the community together.” A sizable number of people in this town are offended or saddened by our name, and our franchise has no business using a name like that.
The choice comes after the NFL’s Washington Football Team made a comparable move. Until a new name is decided upon and numerous branding and trademarking difficulties are handled, Cleveland’s baseball team will be known as the Indians, the name it has worn since 1915, unlike the Washington Football Team.
The team hasn’t decided on a specific date, but the latest a new name will be utilized is 2022. However, he made it clear that the squad will not adopt its colloquial moniker, the Tribe, as its official team name. Dolan did not confirm any substitute names or concepts being studied internally. The Indians won’t be a half-step away, according to Dolan. No Native American-themed names will be used.
Native American organizations and others have long opposed professional & amateur sports teams using Indigenous names and symbols. Before the 2019 season, Cleveland did away with the divisive Chief Wahoo design from its hats and jerseys, even though the organization still owns the rights to it and has continued to sell products with the logo.
Outcome
As a result of discussions surrounding the moniker, Dolan said on Monday that the club has decided to give all proceeds from the sale of Chief Wahoo products to organizations that assist the Native American community. Cleveland will consider “the best path ahead with our team name” in the future, Dolan said in a statement in July, shortly after Washington’s intention to alter its name was made public.
Before making that assertion, Dolan had maintained that there was no need to change the team name at the time of the Chief Wahoo decision. However, Dolan and the organization were forced to reevaluate the events of 2020. According to Dolan, the death of George Floyd and the realization that our world has altered were the major changes this year. “For me, that raised the issue of whether we should keep calling ourselves Indians in this new world & what our future holds.
It was only decided to answer the question; that wasn’t the choice. We set out to find the answer to the issue by speaking with various regional and national organizations. Through various means, we addressed the entire community.
The answer, in my opinion, was pretty obvious: even though many of us who grew up with the name believed it to be nothing more than the name of our team & that it was not intended to hurt anyone, especially Native Americans, this was hurting those people.
The Council of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance, the Lake Erie Native American Council, the American Indian Movement of Ohio, and the Lake Erie Professional Branch of the American Indian Science & Engineering Society all publicly argued for a name change in the area. Dolan asserted that the support for a name change among civic figures who assist the underserved was just as strong.
Last Words
Dolan, a fifth-generation resident of Cleveland, acknowledged that many supporters do not support the team’s choice. If we can fulfill that role with such a name like Indians,” said the author.
After a new name is adopted, the team will still commemorate its lengthy history as the Indians, according to Dolan. The team will continue interacting with the community during the “tough and complex” process of choosing a new name.
According to Dolan, it won’t be simple to get away from Indians. “We recognize that making that change will be challenging for many people. But I hope we will accept the idea of changing our name over time. We hope it will be a name that the neighborhood can support and that it can endure for longer than 105 years.
