The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Why Spokane baseball team won’t drop Indians name
Many sports teams using names and mascots invoking Native Americans do so over the long-standing and strenuous objections of people who say it is racist. Some teams, after years of stubborn refusal, have recently relented, like the Washington Football Team of the NFL, which recently abandoned its nickname.
Then there are the Spokane Indians.
The minor league baseball team in Washington state has been collaborating with the Spokane Tribe of Indians in what it hopes is a respectful manner of honoring the local Indigenous population. Can that be done? Some say it is not possible, but the Spokane Indians may be as close to an understanding as any team has come.
“They came and listened to the elders, and that is what really developed the relationship over time,” said Carol Evans, the chairwoman of the Spokane Tribal Council, “and it has grown like a family partnership unit, where we have a lot of respect for one another.”
But Suzan Shown Harjo, an advocate for Native American
rights who has led the fight against Indigenous team names and mascots in sports for decades, said no matter the good intent, the name should still be changed.
“There is no such thing as respectable treatment of any mascot or team name that has a native theme in sports,” she said. “There is just no such thing, no matter how you package it.”
The Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball said they were having discussions about the “best path forward” regarding their name. The Spokane Indians have had such talks, too, even volunteering to abandon the name 14 years ago but eventually deciding to keep it with the support of tribal leadership.
The Spokane Indians were founded in 1903 and are now a Class A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Decades ago, the Spokane team logo featured a grotesque caricature of a Native American person. But there are no longer any such depictions associated with the team.
Since 2006, the team has actively engaged with the Spokane Tribe, many of whom live on a reservation about 40 miles from the city of Spokane. Meetings are held with government leaders at least once a year, and the team has made several changes and innovations to their uniform design, stadium exhibits and cultural outreach programs, based on recommendations from the Spokane leaders.
The current uniform has Sp’q’n’i’ emblazoned on the front. It is the spelling in Salish, the local Native American language, for Spokane, according to Evans. One of the jerseys hangs at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and is said to be the first example of Native American language on a professional baseball uniform.
The team adopted a mascot dressed as a trout, a traditional food source of the Spokane people, in part to raise awareness for trout conservation in the area. The logo includes a feather inspired by the art of a member of the Spokane community, and one version has Salish words on it. Some signs in the stadium, like for the team store, the concession stand and the restrooms, are in English and Salish.
All of it was done in consultation with the Spokane people, said Evans and Otto Klein, a senior vice president and part-owner of the team.
“In the early conversations, we had everything on the table, including a name change,” Klein said. “The partnership you see today is where it ended up, and we are very proud of it from our side.”
Klein said the team had joined in an effort to restock local rivers with salmon, the Spokane Tribe’s historical food source until the construction of dams in the 20th century cut off the supply. Klein said the team, which is not playing this year after the minor league season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, also helps finance charitable efforts on the reservation, including a fund for children, and they are helping to rebuild the local baseball field.