The world of sports has always faced backlash for the names associated with sports teams. Normally, this backlash is a result of racially offensive mascots, names, slogans, and/or brands, which often encourage and adhere to racial profiling (offensive stereotypes about entire races of people). Recently, many teams have addressed this backlash and changed their brands to be less offensive. For example, the Washington Redskins changed their name and logo to the Washington Commanders in 2022. The Redskins, the name used by the team located in D.C. from 1933-2020, depicted a Native American Indian on the helmets and jerseys of the football players and on all team apparel and media functions.
Other teams have changed their brands in the past too. The MLB Baseball franchise the Cleveland Indians, changed their name to the Cleveland Guardians back in 2021 after the season that year. The logo changed from the Native American’s “Chief Wahoo” image to the current Guardian’s logo in 2018.
Similarly, St. John’s University in New York changed its name from the Redmen to the Red Storm in 1994 after backlash due to the offensive name and logo.
There are countless more examples throughout sports. However, some teams still haven’t changed their ways even after backlash from the world and civil rights protestors. Minor examples include the four-time MLB World Series winners, the Atlanta Braves, who haven’t changed their name since their establishment in 1912. However, the Native American community has expressed approval of the name as they believe it brings them honor. The Braves have given back to the Native American community by creating programs that honor their culture and legacy. The NHL club, the Chicago Blackhawks, has some racial aspects incorporated into their logo, but the club insists that the name “Black Hawk” is based on the helicopter used by the military (though many still question this because the Black Hawk tribe was native to the Illinois area and serves as a cultural aspect of Chicago).
However, of all the teams in the U.S. with offensive brands, the Kansas City Chiefs are by far the most well-known, influential, and problematic. The four-time Super Bowl winners have faced enormous backlash and hate for their name and have done nothing to change it or the stunts performed at Chiefs games. Although the Chiefs, like the Braves, support and fund Native American causes, the Braves contribute much more than the Chiefs to help the Native American community.
If you’ve ever been to or seen a Chiefs’ game, you’ve probably witnessed the portrayals of the Native American community. Chiefs’ fans often dress in traditional Native American headgear. The crowd will do the “Tomahawk Chop” to uplift the team. Before the game even takes place, Kansas City cheerleaders ride a horse called Warpaint out onto the field to the beat of a drum with the Chiefs logo embedded on it. In case you haven’t seen the logo, it’s a Native American arrowhead with KC in the middle.
Many indigenous people have protested these actions performed by one of the biggest teams in the NFL. A Kansas City resident and Native American, Rhonda Levaldo, has devoted countless hours and dollars to showing her distaste for the Chiefs brand. In 2024, she went to Las Vegas to protest her cause at the Super Bowl where the Chiefs played against the San Francisco 49ers. Studies have shown that children of Native Americans seeing the stereotypical imagery has impacted their psychological wellbeing, and Levaldo has used this study as a cause to plead the Chiefs to change their name.
“It’s not bringing our people into this celebration together. Really, it’s hurting us more because now it’s the bigger spotlight where you’re seeing this all over the world,” said Levaldo in an interview with the Associated Press (AP).
Levaldo continues to argue that instead of the Chiefs team bringing people together, the harmful logo, name, and overall brand is effectively mocking and isolating Native Americans. She has gone to many games and protested the use of the offensive name and symbols at Chiefs games, and she has the support of many Native American decedents who also find the Chiefs racially profiling the Native Americans.
The “Tomahawk Chop” is seen all throughout sports. It is used by the Atlanta Braves, Florida State Seminoles, and numerous other teams. In my opinion, the issue arises because the Chiefs haven’t found a boundary of sensitivity. The NCAA has prohibited all actions that resemble offensive taboos or stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, and the NFL and MLB has changed the names to be more sensitive and honor the people who were on this land before us. However, the Chiefs still tolerate (and one might even say, promote) actions that can be considered offensive to the Native American community. Fans were still allowed to wear the traditional headgear of the Native Americans until early 2020 when it was banned, but the Chiefs’ helmets and logos still resemble the stereotypes reflecting the Chiefs.
The words “End Racism” are painted in the back of the endzone in Kansas City, but the ironic thing is that the arrowhead on their red helmets still reflects the offensive things the Chiefs do. From the arrowhead on their helmets to Arrowhead stadium (the name of the Chiefs’ home stadium in Kansas City, Missouri) to the “Tomahawk Chop” that fans partake in during the games, many aspects of the Chiefs’ brand must change.
The late George Bernard Shaw once said, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” If we want to make the world more equal and racially just, we have to change offensive aspects of our society.
