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“A Native American group on Monday called on Nike to stop producing products with that feature the Cleveland Indians’ mascot Chief Wahoo.
“We ask that Nike live up to its dedication to inclusion,” says a news release issued by the group called “Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry.” The release says the group includes “Native parents and their allies from across the country.”
“Profiting from Native Mascotry is not being diverse; it is not being inclusive,” the news release says. “Selling items, such as a zip-up jacket, that is dually marked with “Chief Wahoo” and the Nike ‘Swoosh’ makes a powerful allied statement about Nike’s stance. It strongly suggests that Nike is excluding legitimate Native American concerns about the derogatory and offensive nature of Native stereotyping.”
The news release also notes that Nike sells branded merchandise for the Washington, D.C., football team and Florida State University, both of which use Native imagery.
The news release says the group Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry “will be holding local protests at the Nike World Headquarters this week in Beaverton, Oregon and conducting a social media campaign to trend the #Dechief hashtag begun by Cleveland Indians fan Dennis Brown.”
– Media ITE, Native American group asks Nike to stop selling Chief Wahoo gear.
“A Native American group on Saturday again protested at Nike’s World Headquarters over the sportswear giant’s inclusion of Chief Wahoo and other Native American mascots on athletic apparel. The protest coincided with the annual meeting of Nike’s N7 Fund, which promotes athletic opportunities for Native Americans.”
– Missoula Independent, Group again asks Nike to stop use of Native American mascot logos.
“Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, a group of Native parents and their allies from across the country urge Nike Inc. and those attending the N7 Sports Summit for Native athletes being held October 2-5th at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon to acknowledge and support the grassroots efforts of Native American families to end racism in sports, especially racism against Native Americans displayed by the NFL’s Washington team, the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Atlanta Braves. It is more important than ever that Nike demonstrate support for Native American families particularly after Nike’s insulting racial slur-themed birthday partylast week for National Basketball Association player Kevin Durant. Nike can no longer continue to ignore American Psychological Association findings and claim to support and include Native Americans as people, rather than marketable images or consumers from which they make a profit. Michael A Friedman, PhD., stated in a 2013 article:
“The effects of systematic prejudice and discrimination against Native Americans can be best illustrated in that Native American/Alaska Natives have among the highest suicide rates in the country. The rate of suicide among Native Americans has risen 65% in the past decade alone. The acknowledgment of the catastrophic effects of prejudice on the Native American population prompted the American Psychological Association in 2005 to strongly urge the banning of all Native American mascots for sports teams.””
– Missoula Independent, Native Americans Respond to Nike’s Redskins-Themed Party for Kevin Durant.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
