Atlanta Braves: Why it’s Time to Get Rid of Tomahawk Chop

Atlanta Braves – Chopping out Racism Conclusion

There’s a deep disconnect between average fans and the offended Native Americans. Average fans are the majority. Native Americans still only account for about 1.5% of the U.S. population.

Oftentimes a lack of understanding can be found at the heart of the dissent. Fans like myself grow up chopping in the living room, we played cowboys and Indians as kids, then watched them duke it out on the football field.

Our sports teams are a part of who we are. My first reaction to Ryan Helsely was dismissal. “Why would people be offended over something as silly as chopping for my team.”

My favorite team is the Atlanta Braves. I went to a high school whose mascot was the Braves. I wore the Braves logo proudly across my chest when I played. I write for a website entitled Tomahawk Take.

I thought this was just another example of complaining for the sake of complaining because that was the easy way out. The mockery of their cultures and religions were not on my radar.

It seemed silly to me because I didn’t take the time to understand their perspectives.

I didn’t understand that the feathers and the paint have sacred, spiritual values. The songs they sing, the songs we make a mockery of while chanting for the Braves to score a run in a baseball game… those songs are often religious and sacred among various American Indian tribes.

I’ve actually read where fans declared that Native Americans shouldn’t be offended by any of this. I’ll defer to Oprah’s white audience member who spoke up at the end of her show.

He said he was angry when the University of Illinois gave in (slightly) to protests of their mascot, Chief Illiniwek.

"“When I went to a football game and we had no Chief Illiniwek last year, I was hot over this whole deal and I didn’t understand… And the Braves, I thought that was a big farce.”"

He went on to add that by listening to the speakers on the panel, by finally listening to their point of view, he understood.

"“If I went to a ballgame and the people were holding up a gold Christian cross and slamming it on a seat, I would be offended. This isn’t just their parents and their grandparents, it’s their religion!”"

Like I mentioned earlier, I was a lot like Terry Pendelton was in 1991. I thought people were just being overly sensitive. I didn’t understand, and I didn’t care to take the time to learn so that I could.

I just knew they wanted to mess with my Braves and that’s an important part of my life.

The traditions sports teams are messing with are a more important part of Native Americans’ lives than our sports teams are to ours. When we say the Native Americans shouldn’t mess with our tradition (as fans in the news video did), it comes from a lack of knowledge or care of Native American traditions. Their traditions pre-date these farcical sports traditions.

Good things can come from this but with such a small population, they need us to listen.

If I wasn’t a Braves fan, I probably would have never decided to finally do my research.

Because I’m a Braves fan, I realized there’s a lot I don’t know about Native American cultures and history.

Because of the Braves, I’m learning.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!