The politically correct social justice warriors have already pressured two major sports franchises into changing their allegedly racist nicknames because they want to right “the wrongs committed against Native peoples.” Now, they’re after the Atlanta Braves.
In an opinion piece published in the brazenly progressive ESPN blog The Undefeated, one writer took exception to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s factual and logical take on why the Braves continue to use the “Chop On” cheer during games (a hand motion where fans flex their arms to imitate chopping with an axe).
According to the commissioner:
“The Native American community in that region is wholly supportive of the Braves program, including the [tomahawk]chop For me, that’s kind of the end of the story…In that market, we’re taking into account the Native American community.”
There is nothing more you could ask for. Why should the Braves not do their research and ensure that their cheer does not offend the people they are supposed to be offending?
The real answer is, they shouldn’t. Nevertheless, according to the article’s writer, Clinton Yates, the chop on gesture leads to violence in real life.
He wrote:
… more than 700 Indigenous people went missing in (Wyoming) over the last 10 years. A report from the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Task Force in Wyoming…says that 85% were kids, and 57% were female. There’s a direct correlation between racist imagery and real-life violence.
Let me clarify: Because baseball fans mimic a harmless gesture in Atlanta at games, many Indians went missing in Wyoming. This is more than half of the country.
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How desperate for attention and self-importance do you have to be to equate a real-life tragedy to something as minuscule as a chant at baseball games, and then demand that we eradicate it from the fan’s experience?
Braves fans cheer this Indian song at games. They are simply asking their team for victory and encouraging them to keep fighting. They are not expressing any racism, underlying danger, or cultural appropriation.
Yates, along with others, are not without their own immaturity and bitterness. They want Indian imagery to be removed from sports, because they feel hurt.
Hopefully, the Braves and Manfred continue to “Chop On” against the mob and keep the cheer as an integral part of the Braves’ baseball experience.
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