Native American activists protest Chiefs’ name and logo
As the Kansas City Chiefs prepared for kick off against the Philadelphia Eagles, about 50 protesters lined outside of State Farm Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday continued the call for the Chiefs to change their name, logo and chants that appropriate Indigenous culture.
With signs reading “end cultural appropriation,” protesters asked for the team to listen to repeated calls for change and to retire the name “Chiefs,” the arrowhead logo, and the team’s “Tomahawk chop” where fans make a chopping-hand gesture mimicking the Native American tomahawk while chanting a war song.
Amanda Blackhorse, who is Diné and the founder of the organization that led the protest, Arizona to Rally Against Native American Mascots, has worked for over a decade to cease the use of offensive mascots and logos and to spread awareness about the harm it brings.
“The anti-Native mascot movement has always been about the betterment of our Native people, not hatred toward other football fans,” Blackhorse said at a news conference on Thursday regarding the protest. “All we want is to live and navigate a world where we can enjoy a TV program on Sunday or attend a football game without seeing the stereotypes.”
These stereotypes, Blackhorse said, make a mockery of Indigenous culture and spiritual practices continuing to perpetuate an oppressive and derogatory narrative against Native people.
“We deal with this every day with radio ads, billboard ads, stereotypes, so we want to make sure that people are educated about how this affects not only us, but our young people,” said Gaylene Crouser, executive director of the Kansas City Indian Center and a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe came out to the protest from Kansas City.
According to Crouser, these Native images being used by the Chiefs demean real Native people and dismiss their experiences, stories, and culture.
“In the bigger picture it’s systematic,” said Florian Blackhorse. “It dehumanizes us and reduces us to cartoons and caricatures.”