FanPost

Cleveland Indians Forced to Change Name

By Brian Schwartz

December 13, 2020

BEREA, Ohio — The chickens have finally come home to roost. Major League Baseball is forcing the Cleveland Indians to change their name. The Indians name on the jersey or in box scores supposedly oppresses Native people.

I used to walk from the Tower City Rapid Station to Indians games with my Native American girlfriend, while white women yelled at us for going to this oppressive game. Now white women who have never dealt with racism, and who don't like baseball, will be pacified by this move. And optics are the entire reason for this move.

In South Dakota, the Oglala Sioux Tribe live in the poorest county in our Nation. Their average life expectancy is more than 15 years shorter than ours. Changing the name of the Cleveland Indians will not help any member of this tribe.

In North Carolina, the Lumbee Tribe are mostly impoverished, and don't even have Federal recognition to state that they even exist. Changing the name of the Cleveland Indians will not help any member of this tribe.

New York State has been a bit kinder to its native people, and the State even educated me about the Iroquois in the third grade. But the Iroquois Indians are still shunted to low-value land that is not near any major employers. Most people I saw on the reservation were clearly overweight and living in poverty. Changing the name of the Cleveland Indians will not help any member of this tribe.

So do I hang on to the Indians name? No, I don't care about the name. I think the Spiders are a snappier name and would have a great logo.

But any move to change the Indians name should be accompanied by a large cash payment to Native American tribes. If Major League Baseball admits that the Indians name is racist, that means they admit to profting off the name for decades. Pay a few million to the tribes I mentioned above, so that they can create economic development corporations or treat their addicts. Create a foundation so that Native American tribes can make some money going forward.

If all that is done is a name change, then nothing has been done. I want to see at least $10 million given to Native people before I buy a new hat.

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