Column like I see 'em - Anyone bother to ask the culture in question on how to respect the culture?
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- Published on Friday, July 10, 2020
By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner & Press
Alright, who鈥檚 ready to have an uncomfortable conversation about cultural representation in sports?鈥nyone?鈥ello, where did everybody go?
Okay, maybe that鈥檚 not the right tact to start this off, so let me try again, because this feels like one of those topics where I should be very careful on how I approach it. A basic question to begin: What do the Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Chiefs, Edmonton Eskimos, Chicago Blackhawks and Neepawa Natives all have in common? Well, the most recent correct answer to that question would be that they鈥檝e all had the phrase 鈥淐hange your name鈥� retweeted towards them online.
Never say NEVER
For those of you outside of the social media bubble and quite honestly, you are the people I envy the most now, all this began with the NFL鈥檚 Washington Redskins. The franchise is once again facing intense public scrutiny on their name, which is considered a racial slur in dictionary entries. But this time, it appears as though change is on the horizon, as FedEx asked the team to reconsider the moniker, with investors from Nike and PepsiCo quickly following suit. Last week, 87 shareholders representing $620 billion in assets wrote a letter asking those companies to cut ties with the team if it didn鈥檛 change the name. As well, by Monday, July 6, Nike, Walmart and Target had all removed the team鈥檚 merchandise from their websites. With pressure intensifying, team owner Dan Snyder released a statement, saying that they would be conducting a 鈥渢horough review鈥� of the name. That鈥檚 a complete 180 compared to a quote from Snyder back in 2013, stating that 鈥淲e鈥檒l never change the name. It鈥檚 that simple. NEVER鈥攜ou can use caps.鈥� Well now, isn鈥檛 it just amazing how quickly you can find your social conscience once it starts impacting your cash flow.
Only one way to know for sure
But along with the Washington Redskins Potatoes, many other teams with a name or logo affiliated with First Nations鈥� culture seem to have been bombarded with intense reactions on both sides of the argument. For the sake of your sanity, don鈥檛 dive into any of this online debate, it鈥檒l just make you feel very tired.
I, like everyone else it seems, have a pretty entrenched opinion on this subject. But, unlike every current keyboard 鈥渄eplorable鈥� and 鈥渟nowflake鈥� out there, I won鈥檛 be sharing it with you today, because it doesn鈥檛 matter. Due to my ethnic heritage, I probably only have a free pass to share my opinion on exactly two teams; the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and the Boston Celtics. As it now stands, neither one offends me. If they were to change to the 鈥淒runken Irish of Notre Dame鈥� or the 鈥淏oston Paleskins鈥�, then I have some problems with the whole thing, but at this time, we鈥檙e all good.
Don鈥檛 get me wrong, while I can still chime in on this particular topic if I want to, I鈥檓 not the cultural demographic that needs to be heard at this moment. In all the online back and forth, only once or twice have I seen anyone suggest that we check in with First Nation, Inuit and M茅tis and see what they think on all this hubbub.
Do you know what Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Chiefs, Edmonton Eskimos, Chicago Blackhawks and Neepawa Natives should all have in common? They should all be ramping up their engagement with their nearest First Nations communities. With the exception of the Florida State Seminoles, who have actually built a 70 year working relationship with the Seminole Tribe, where is the current and ongoing consultation from any of these teams? Because what was all good and you had permission to do 75,25 or even five years ago, might not fly now, so perhaps it鈥檚 best to have an updated conversation with the parties that the teams are claiming to honour. The best way to know that you are doing the right thing is to ask the people you鈥檙e trying to do right by.
Who knows, you might surprised by the response. I鈥檝e seen First Nations people wearing Chicago Blackhawks t-shirts and Washington Redskins hats. In fact, I once did an interview with a notable representative of 水果视频鈥檚 M茅tis community as he wore a Chief Wahoo baseball cap. I was not expecting that, and quite honestly, what right would I have had to say to that man of M茅tis heritage that his cap is problematic?
The only way to know right now is to ask, 鈥淎re we good?鈥� If those community leaders say 鈥淵eah, we鈥檙e all good鈥�, then fantastic! Sports racism has been solved! But if the answer is a non-consensus, or an outright no, well then it鈥檚 time for that uncomfortable conversation we talked about earlier.
Disclaimer: Column like I see 鈥榚m is a monthly opinion column for the Neepawa Banner & Press. The views expressed in the article are the writer鈥檚 personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Neepawa Banner & Press.
