I was not expecting it to be a positive story… but it really is. The team’s name was granted to them by the local chief, and the logo has now been updated in consultation with the same group. So instead of an act of cultural appropriation, we’ve got an act of recognition of a part of the local community.
Of course, they’ll have to explain this over and over again to the rest of the world, but that’s not a bad thing either.
Yeah, it's pretty great actually. The centrist in me is doing backflips. Two groups got together, over different generations, and worked things out in a friendly and respectful fashion? Love it.
This whole thing is so beautiful! The mutual respect is especially refreshing when everything seems so adversarial these days. The emphasis that we're all treaty people has reframed my perspective and is such a great lesson to instill on these young athletes and their community.
Yeah, remembering that a treaty is between all parties is something we often forget.
they’ll have to explain this over and over again to the rest of the world, but that’s not a bad thing either.
Will they remember? Years ago a local team received the same kind of grant when there was question of its branding being an inappropriate appropriation. As time marched forward people came and went, and the people involved in attaining the original grant were no longer around so the same question inevitably surfaced again. At that time they decided to change the branding rather than seek approval (again).
That’s precisely why explaining it over and over again is a good thing.
It keeps the story of how multiple groups in a community can work together to do something that benefits everyone fresh, so the lone narrative isn’t community groups refusing to work with local indigenous groups for fear of being branded racist.
It's a nice idea, but tough to keep going as hands change. The people who were involved in the aforementioned agreement still talk about it to this day, but they are not involved in the organization anymore, so you have a disconnect.
Let's do this with all of the sports teams like this, instead of just all toxicity. Celebrate the culture and educate people.
The article specifically says that this is a unique and different situation since the name and logo were given to the team from an acting Indigenous Chief in a ceremony over half a century ago. I think that the lesson to learn here is decidedly not that every team should ignore the racist history of their name or its current stereotyping.
The memoir of Fred Sasakamoose is a good read and a nuanced look at the experiences of an Indigenous pro hockey player seeing this kind of stuff in the minor leagues and NHL in the 50s.
Interesting! Here's a "chiefs" team that actually got a blessing from the affected people to call themselves that.
Good move here.
Shouldn't they be called the "Chieves"?
That depends... Boxers or brieves?
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