Throw back this throwback

The smiling cartoon face with bright red skin, enormous teeth and red feather, as crass a caricature of a Native American as caricatures come, stares out from the caps of Cleveland Indians ballplayers. It is time to retire the depiction known as Chief Wahoo, which is a stain on America’s pastime.

We argue not for blanket prohibition against Native American iconography in American sport. There may well be a place for the imagery used by the Atlanta Braves, and the Florida State Seminoles, and the Chicago Blackhawks, all embraced with a modicum of respect.

But some portrayals of Native Americans communicate not dignified celebration of their heritage, but the flattening, even belittling of it.

The name of the Washington pro football franchise is tantamount to a racial slur, and is therefore a word this newspaper will not use. And the logo of the Cleveland baseball team is fit for a cringeworthy 1930s Looney Toons cartoon.

Shamed by Native American activists and others, Indians ownership knows something is wrong. Players wears a plain red C throughout the regular season — awkwardly bringing the logo back into the spotlight during the playoffs, when millions more are watching.

The long-suffering Cleveland faithful hope for their first World Series win since 1948. Which is roughly the last time that logo would have been socially acceptable, if it ever was.