The Cleveland Indians have finally decided to limit the use of the Chief Wahoo logo, a change that will take effect starting next season. The controversial caricature will be removed from their uniforms, but will still be sold on officially licensed team merchandise. Despite the move, Native American protestors are calling the decision a half-measure, and are still trying to convince the franchise to completely remove all uses of the logo. These protests angered fans of the team, who went as far as to scream obscenities at the Native American protestors at the Indians’ home opener. Should the team have done more than just remove the logo from their uniforms?
Gord Randall, GSC Staff Writer
This is just a half-measure, and it continues to astonish me that this ridiculous (and poorly-drawn) caricature of a mascot/emblem hasn’t been axed. I also find it funny how many people seem completely blind to the optics of losing their composure and screaming obscenities any time they’re protesting anything. That being said, it doesn’t surprise me that people who are that passionate about a demeaning, racist caricature don’t have the greatest emotional intelligence. This is a horrible look for Cleveland; it’s something I’ve been very critical of the organization for in the past. Until the organization outwardly admonishes the logo and gets rid of the name “Indians” altogether, this will continue to be an issue. To be honest, aside from the fact the baseball team has always been called that, the nickname “Indians” has absolutely no significance to the city of Cleveland, nor does it sound particularly good in conjunction with the city’s name. It needs to go out the window, and the MLB needs to be exerting their influence to help make it so.
Serge Leshchuk, GSC Staff Writer
In the ideal world, yes and 100 percent. I don’t understand this insistence of white people to hold onto every single proposed change that introduces measures of respect to other cultures as a slight against white people as a whole. It’s not; maybe the logo, the name and everything that comes along with it is hella offensive to the Native American population. My goal is to be rich enough to own a team and then petition to rename it to the [Insert City Here] Honkies and then argue that any argument against that is infringing on my culture, for some unbeknownst reason.
No, this isn’t enough. Not in the slightest. You take the logo, the name, the uniforms, any paraphernalia you might have and throw that shit in a pit fire. Then, you start over. In the ideal world. In reality, this is probably as far as we’re going to get because the financial costs of renaming literally everything and then putting new stuff in circulation, is monumental. This isn’t just your yearly uniform tweak. This is basically a brand relaunch. People pay a lot of money for that stuff even when they don’t have to think about selling jerseys.
Brandon Anderson, GSC Editor
This is a half-measure at best. Have we learned nothing from Walter White? No half-measures! Why is this so hard? I understand the importance of history to baseball, but there’s plenty of other histories that’s been changed for the better. Besides, why is Cleveland so afraid of a rebrand? Yes, it would cost a lot of money to make a new logo and print all new merchandise. You know what else it would do? MAKE A LOT OF MONEY. Fans will need a ton of new merchandise after a rebrand, that’s for sure. They’ll need new caps, new jerseys, new pennants and new everything else. Cleveland would make so much money off a rebrand. A lot of European clubs change colors and rebrand just about every year, and fans go out and buy things every time. Come on Cleveland, this is not that hard.
