Indians changing their name to Guardians in ’22
The Cleveland baseball team, less than a year after announcing it would change its name and three years after taking Chief Wahoo off the uniforms, is becoming the Guardians.
They decided to get rid of the “Indians” name in 2020, months after the Washington Football Team stopped using a slur against Native Americans as its nickname.
“The name is no longer acceptable in our world,” owner Paul Dolan said of “Indians” in December 2020, a view he said he came around to after the killing of George Floyd.
Dolan, the cousin of Knicks owner James Dolan, explained the name
in a statement. “‘Guardians’ reflects those attributes that define us while drawing on the iconic Guardians of Traffic just outside the ballpark on the Hope Memorial Bridge,” he said.
The change leaves three major American pro sports teams that use Native imagery: the Chiefs, Braves and Blackhawks.
The Washington Football Team dropped its name in 2020 but appears content with its interim name.
One sports enthusiast attempted to get some cheap heat off defending racist nicknames. “Such a disgrace,” former president Donald Trump said a statement because he can’t post on social media. “The people of Cleveland cannot be thrilled and I, as a FORMER baseball fan, cannot believe things such as this are happening.”