Chopping With The Braves And Rolling With The Tide
Relief!!!! Have followed since Boston Braves days.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;......
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
High Flight
by
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Thought this was interesting:
I'm guessing a name change will happen at some point in the near future. Probably not for a few years, but the Indians and Redskins are on that path, and then the Braves are going to be arguably the biggest target remaining, along with the Chiefs. I think the Braves and Chiefs will be able to hold out for a bit, because neither word is a racial slur and there's no horrifying Chief Wahoo iconography, but it's just a matter of time.
50PoundHead (07-06-2020), jpx7 (07-06-2020)
jpx7 (07-06-2020)
I would guess the Blackhawks are next on the target.
I think the Braves ditch native iconography. They ditch the tomahawk from it's symbology, simple Atlanta A and Simple Braves logos, like they had before the 87 season. Personally I wish they would go back to the late 70s or early 80s braves logos.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
I don't think the Blackhawks generate the same level of outcry, because they're named after a specific member of a specific tribe—likewise, I haven't heard much outcry about the Illini representations of University of Illinois—and moreover the Blackhawks have also proactively sought indigenous participation in discussions around their representation, like FSU has with the Seminole tribe (and, as much as it pains me to say anything positive about FSU, I think they've genuinely done a good job relative to other sports teams).
That seems to be the big gulf: indigenous peoples, for the most part, aren't saying never speak of or celebrate our various cultures, they're just asking for a say in how and when and why they're represented (in these cases, by large entertainment corporations, for the profit of non-native peoples). And I'm very sympathetic to the idea that they'd like to not be represented by an outright slur (Washington's NFL team), by a historical misnomer that generalizes what is actually a very diverse set of native tribes, languages, and cultures (Indians), or what could easily be construed as a caricature of otherizing savagery (Braves).
If the Braves were smart, given that—unlike the other two negative examples—their name is open to a lot of various meanings, they'd have gotten ahead of this years ago: for instance, slowly but surely phasing out the tomahawk and other faux-indigenous iconography, replacing it with jingoistic, Home of the Braves US-patriotism bull****. This might've allowed the team to keep the name while appeasing (almost) everybody: native peoples would no longer have complaints about (mis)representation, while I'd bet the Venn diagram of (a) people triggered by "catering" to a minority group and (b) people who'd gorge themselves on the jingoism angle is, essentially, a circle. The team's faceless corporate ownership is even called Liberty Media, providing top-down synergy for this re-branding—and really, given that the Braves are owned by a bottom-line-oriented corporation, as opposed to a dollars-plus-ego-driven lead owner, I'm a little surprised they haven't tried to do something like this already.
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
Super (07-13-2020)
Stopping the chop won't stop the chop
jpx7 (07-09-2020)
Wont feel the same to me with any other name. I didnt grow up an Atlanta Eagles fan.
"Donald Trump will serve a second term as president of the United States.
It’s over."
Little Thethe Nov 19, 2020.
jpx7 (07-10-2020)