I mean "Chiefs" is certainly more benign than an outright racial slur, and as the name of the team its Native American connection is pretty tenuous and indirect (although the connection does exist), but on the other hand the team hasn't shied away from invoking Native American imagery to bridge that otherwise weak connection. If it bothers people, it should be changed.
The KC Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium plus the team uses an arrowhead as its identity. That is pretty direct to me. Indirect might be the teams color of red.
Now, if the team used a profile of a very obese man as a symbol and a cane for identity that might work.
I mean "Chiefs" is certainly more benign than an outright racial slur, and as the name of the team its Native American connection is pretty tenuous and indirect (although the connection does exist), but on the other hand the team hasn't shied away from invoking Native American imagery to bridge that otherwise weak connection. If it bothers people, it should be changed.
The KC Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium plus the team uses an arrowhead as its identity. That is pretty direct to me. Indirect might be the teams color of red.
Now, if the team used a profile of a very obese man as a symbol and a cane for identity that might work.
Yeah by indirect I just meant that the actual etymology of the name was not a direct reference to Native Americans (named for Bartle, whose nickname was Chief -- but he got that nickname through his Boy Scout work, which also involved co-opting Native American imagery, so it's still indirectly connected). Whatever distinction there is to be made here is pretty meaningless when the team makes the connection explicit by adopting Native American imagery, though.
While the arrowhead symbol is undoubtedly meant to evoke "Native American," it's not like they're the only culture on earth who made arrowheads. The Chiefs might have had some kind of argument that, hey, y'know everyone made arrowheads, arrowheads have been found in the vicinity of the stadium or something, it's meant to be more of a nod to the archaeological history of the region than explicitly a reference to Native American people. That's admittedly pretty weak, but it's a far cry from Redskins at least.
Then they put a dude in a feather headdress on a horse named Warpaint and, well, so much for that. That the dude was replaced by a girl in sparkly clothes probably doesn't change much.
mean wrote:While the arrowhead symbol is undoubtedly meant to evoke "Native American," it's not like they're the only culture on earth who made arrowheads. The Chiefs might have had some kind of argument that, hey, y'know everyone made arrowheads, arrowheads have been found in the vicinity of the stadium or something, it's meant to be more of a nod to the archaeological history of the region than explicitly a reference to Native American people. That's admittedly pretty weak, but it's a far cry from Redskins at least.
Then they put a dude in a feather headdress on a horse named Warpaint and, well, so much for that. That the dude was replaced by a girl in sparkly clothes probably doesn't change much.
Warpaint is definitely not helping anything. I did think of the arrowhead argument this weekend when I saw some arrowheads at the Nelson Exhibit about ancient Saudi Arabia, but it is still a call-out to weaponry of choice.
It seems that any name that represents a people group could find offense: Cowboys, Padres, Twins, the Irish, etc. All could say sports trivializes their group. It seems flimsy.
brewcrew1000 wrote:I think the Chiefs should wear the red pants every home game, i love the way it looks.
They are sharp looking. I did not give us much of a shot at winning last night, but that was a terrific all-around team effort. Great coaching also. I'm very impressed by the organization's reaction to the rough start, and they have handled the injury problems well.
Side note - I thought it was a shame last night that Abdullah was flagged for prayer in the end zone. It was a pretty big misstep by the announcers as well to not put two and two together and point out that he was clearly making a symbolic gesture based on his religious beliefs, ala every other player in the NFL. I hope the NFL re-trains its officials regarding things like that. Finally, that rule is the dumbest rule of all time. A guy can dance the Can-Can across the end-zone, but he technically can't pump his fist after being tackled.
