Native American groups pushed back Wednesday against Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred’s claim that indigenous communities support the Atlanta Braves’ tomahawk chops.
Manfred told reporters Native Americans don’t mind the sight of brave fans chanting near Atlanta on Tuesday at the World Series fake fight cry During the games at Truist Park in Cobb County, north of Atlanta.
“The Braves have done a phenomenal job with the Native American community,” Manfred said On the field at Minute Maid Park in Houston. “The Native American community in that area fully supports the Braves program, including Chop.
“And for me, that’s the end of the story,” he continued. “In that market, with the Native American community in mind, it works.”
But Jason Salsman, spokesman for Muskogee Nation Chief David Hill, said Manfred could not express his opinion on any one stand of a native community.
“If you go out and get a group here or there and say you’re cool, I don’t get how the Indian country works,” the salesman said. “You need to talk to the entire Indian nation and make sure you get a grand consensus. I wouldn’t say they have that.”
Muskogee Nation’s ancestral home, now in Oklahoma, prior to its forced relocation Along the deadly path of tears In the 19th century, in what is now Georgia. The tribe does not endorse Tomahawk Chop.
“I think for us, with Tomahawk chops, you’re not really getting anything authentic,” Salsman said. “You’re getting something that’s more than a caricature.”
Manfred said he consulted with the local Cherokee. None of the Cherokee’s three federally recognized bands are based in Georgia.
The Cherokee Nation and the United Ketowa Band of Cherokee Indians were forcibly taken to Oklahoma, where they live. The eastern band of Cherokee Indians live in nearby North Carolina, and principal Chief Richard Snead has said over the years that the tribe does not support the Braves’ fervor.
Crystal Echo Hawke, a nominated member of Oklahoma’s Pawnee Nation, who is president of the indigenous advocacy group Illuminative, said: “We can’t let this be just a local Native issue. The imagery, the chant, the red face isn’t just that. Local Level impact – it’s affecting all natives.”
Stephanie Fryberg, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and a member of the Tulip Tribes, said the effects of such mascots and gestures are not always immediately apparent. There is decades of research documenting the psychological harm associated with original-themed mascots and related gameday behaviors,” she said in a statement.
NS Washington football team changed his racist surname last year, and Cleveland’s baseball team It’s given up its long-standing moniker for a new brand, the Guardian, starting next year.
Echo Hawk and others have also pointed out that Psychological research has shown The use of Native American imagery and mascots in games over the years has had negative consequences on the mental health of both Native and non-Native children.
Matthew Mulligan And Ceres fever has contributed.