We’re Not Going Back

Anyone who’s paying attention recognizes that the agenda of the current Republican administration is focused on reversal – reversing anything that Democrats have done, reversing the progressive decisions made by the United States Supreme Court since the 1960s, and reversing government regulations that have made Americans safer and healthier over the past century. All of this is ostensibly in the name of “freedom,” but it’s all a façade for unbridled and extortionist capitalism, racism, and misogyny.

In his effort to deflect public attention from the burgeoning Epstein scandal that threatens to undermine his presidency, the current Republican POTUS suddenly wants major league baseball teams to ditch their “woke” names – specifically, he wants the Washington Commanders and the Cleveland Guardians to become the Redskins and Indians again. He is threatening to use his presidential magic wand to “poof” the plans by the Washington Commanders to rebuild RFK Stadium in DC unless they change their name back to the Redskins. He can’t do this, of course, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try.

I have some personal experience with such renaming efforts. The mascot for William & Mary was the Indians from 1916 until 2006 (with some waffling in between), when the college began the process of determining a new mascot. The result of the ensuing competition was that the Griffin became the mascot in 2010.

The college had a somewhat arguable claim to the Indian mascot; in the 18th century, the college established an Indian school (the Brafferton) to educate the sons of indigenous leaders in Virginia. However, this effort never amounted to much, and the entire program was eliminated after the American Revolution.

The Griffin was chosen because it has the head of an eagle (representing the United States) and the body of a lion (representing the college’s British roots). The most obvious example of the Griffin on campus today is a bronze statue outside of the football stadium – best known for its outsized and prominent (ahem) nether region orbs. These orbs are usually shinier than the rest of the statue, because touching the nether region orbs became a ritual of good luck for students facing exams or other challenges.

I had fun writing the previous paragraph, gotta say.

Anyway.

When the “Indian” mascot and imagery were phased out, there was the predictable fan backlash. For years, diehard fans wore bedraggled feathers on their hats or sported other Indian regalia to emphasize their commitment to — something. These demonstrations have faded away more recently, and current students are generally unaware of the controversy from 15 years ago. The word “tribe” is still used to refer collectively to the various teams, as in “Go, Tribe!” but we all pretend that this is about the 12 tribes of Israel or something, but certainly not indigenous Americans.

• Isn’t the phrase “Member of the Tribe” or MOT used self-referentially by Jewish people? I recall it being used by Jews about Jews, not by non-Jews. Can any of you verify my recollection?

At first, it seems relatively harmless to use Indians (or Redskins) as a team name or mascot. The current Republican president tells his made-up story about how many Native Americans have told him personally that they would like to see a return to these names. They probably called him “Sir” and had tears in their eyes when they approached him. And aren’t these names honoring the spirit and strength of the indigenous community? What’s wrong with that?

Let’s look for a minute at the traditional images that were replaced.

Chief Wahoo, Cleveland Indians

Patterned after the image on the Buffalo Nickel, the logo of the Washington Redskins was not as offensive and cartoonish as Chief Wahoo.

The Washington Redskins were (I think) the only NFL team with an official choir, marching band, and anthem. Here are the original lyrics, sung at various points in every home football game.

Hail to the Redskins!

Hail Victory!

Braves on the warpath

Fight for old Dixie

Scalp 'em, swamp 'em

We will take 'em big score

Read 'em, weep 'em

Touchdown—we want heap more!

Fight on, fight on

Till you have won,

Sons of Washington (Rah! Rah! Rah!)

Hail to the Redskins!

Hail Victory!

Braves on the warpath

Fight for old Dixie

Yeah. So the lyrics were changed in 1965 (the last line of the chorus became “Fight for old D.C.”) Later on, the “scalp’em” language was changed to “Beat’em” for what should be obvious reasons.

How did William & Mary participate in the Native American iconography?

This image (from the William & Mary website) shows a student astride Wampo (William and Mary pony) on the sidelines of a football game. When I was at the college in the late 1960s, a fraternity brother of Tim’s was the guy who rode the horse.

This undated photo from the college archives shows students in Native American dress in the school’s homecoming parade. This type of imagery was common as late at the 1990s.

This all seems harmless fun – maybe – but it has real-world consequences. First, this cartoonishizes (I made up this word) the real lived experience of indigenous Americans. Most of the imagery is from the Great Plains tribes in the 19^th century, as white settlers, encouraged and often funded by the United States government, pushed the tribes around the West, eventually confining them to reservations. These were the tribes that rode horses and (at times) waved tomahawks and wore war paint and feathers to demonstrate their strength and resolve.

These were the images of Native Americans that many of us grew up with as we watched TV and movie westerns in the 1950s and 1960s. Although some Native Americans were depicted as assimilated residents of the frontier towns, more were doing a lot of whooping and hollering as they rode around the landscape, terrorizing wagon trains and frontier settlements while they kidnapped women and children.

Meanwhile, many more indigenous tribes were originally agricultural communities, and by the middle of the 20^th century were largely assimilated into the broader culture. Whereas in 1900 as many as 90% of Native Americans lived on reservations, by 1950 this percentage had shrunk to about 50%. Today, the percentage is as low as 20%. These numbers are historically difficult to verify, and usually rely on enrollment in a federally or state-recognized tribe or self-identification on a census or other survey.

A team mascot dressed like this would not be very entertaining or intimidating

As a society, Americans have moved beyond the Amos and Andy (look it up if you’re too young to remember this) or minstrel show stereotypical depictions of African Americans. We no longer see images of intrepid white explorers in a cookpot surrounded by dancing Africans.

We need to dispose of these images – not because of “political correctness” or because we’re “woke,” but because these images are factually incorrect and offensive on their face. We can do better.

Gotta go rub the Griffin’s nether region orbs for good luck. Bye.