Rob Manfred defends Braves’ name, use of tomahawk chop; Native American group responds

The Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros kicked off the 2021 World Sequence on Tuesday night time. Main League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was at Minute Maid Park for Sport 1, and, previous to the sport, he defended the Atlanta franchise’s continued use of the “Braves” identify and imagery. Manfred was responding to questions on whether or not the league would strain them to vary identities, the way in which different groups with Native American monikers have in recent times (together with the Cleveland franchise, which can quickly be often called the Guardians as an alternative of the Indians).

“The Native American group in that area is wholly supportive of the Braves program, together with the chop,” Manfred mentioned, according to Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. “For me, that is sort of the tip of the story. In that market, we’re bearing in mind the Native American group. …In Atlanta, they’ve performed an awesome job with the Native People. The Native American group is a very powerful group to determine whether or not it is acceptable or not.”

The “chop” is the gesture Braves followers make all through video games that mimics using a tomahawk. The gesture has been criticized by Native Americans, together with St. Louis Cardinals reliever Ryan Helsley, who reason that it portrays Native Americans as caricatures. “It sort of devalues our Cherokee heritage and the Native-American historical past,” Helsley said during the 2019 postseason. “Us as Cherokee native individuals went by quite a bit on this nation.” (The Braves responded by discouraging followers from doing the chop at any time when he pitched throughout that collection.)

Here is video of Manfred addressing reporters on the sector in Houston:

Manfred’s level in regards to the area’s Native People being supportive of the identify and the chop needs to be scrutinized. As baseball scribe Craig Calcaterra noted in his newsletter, the Braves usually level to the assist they’ve from the Japanese Band of Cherokee Indians as irrefutable proof that each one Native People are on board with their id. What tends to go unnoted is that the Japanese Band is technically a enterprise accomplice of the Braves, as their on line casino serves as a company sponsor of the workforce. (And even the Eastern Band has criticized the franchise’s use of stereotypical “war music.”)

On Wednesday, the Nationwide Congress of American Indians launched a press release, as shared by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. Inside the launch, the NCAI criticized Manfred’s feedback and known as upon FOX to refuse to air followers performing the chop. Here is the assertion in entire:

There is not any inherent purpose why the Braves identify or the chop needs to be considered as sacrosanct properties. The “Braves” moniker has been used since 1941, however the franchise has additionally passed by names just like the “Bees” and the “Doves.” (Our Dayn Perry opined in January that Atlanta should change its name to the “Hammers” as a tribute to the late Hank Aaron.) The chop, in the meantime, is a comparatively new addition to the franchise’s id, having grown in recognition through the 1991 season, per the New York Times.