Indigenous rights group to protest Kansas City Chiefs over 'dehumanizing' name ahead of Super Bowl
A Florida-based indigenous rights group is planning to protest the Kansas City Chiefs over their "dehumanizing" moniker this Sunday as the team travels to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in this year's Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida.
The group, known as Florida Indigenous Rights and Environmental Equality, announced plans for the demonstration last week, asking others to join them outside Raymond James Stadium Sunday afternoon to urge the reigning world champions to ditch their team name out of respect for Native Americans.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the group hopes to "call attention to how hurtful the team's name is to indigenous people who see their culture and spirituality appropriated and caricatured by fans who wear headdresses and war paint and swing their arms in an Arrowhead Chop."
"When you make indigenous people into a mascot, it's extremely dehumanizing, especially for children," group co-founder Alicia Norris told the news outlet. "This is coming to our backyard, so we're going to say something about it."
Last summer, amid racially charged protests taking place across the country, the Kansas City Chiefs banned American Indian-themed face paint and headdresses at their stadium and announced they would review use of a popular fan chant known as the "Arrowhead Chop."
But that move was apparently not enough for the Florida indigenous rights group, which plans to gather at 4 p.m. at a yet to be determined location outside the stadium Sunday to urge further action.
"People associate that name with the tomahawk chop, with the war paint, with the headdresses," Norris added. "It all goes together."
In a description of the event posted on Facebook, the group argued, "As we move through the 21st century it is time America began to respect the Indigenous Peoples. No other group of human beings suffers the weekly indignity of both racial and spiritual stereotypes trivializing and degrading their culture in a circus like atmosphere."
"No other groups are racially trivialized into a mascot," it continued, listing a series of nonexistent monikers such as the Kansas City "Chicanos," "Crackers," or "Nuns."
"If the Kansas City [football team] genuinely wants to honor people using the word 'chief' they could readily work with the military and come up with an appropriate way in consultation with them to honor them. Instead, the Kansas City team uses face paint, headdresses and bizarre Hollywood inspired chants that mock Indigenous cultures and spirituality," the description continued.
On its Facebook page, the group describes itself as a collective of "spiritually minded and heart centered humans that are motivated to bring awareness to issues facing Indigenous Peoples. We are committed to protecting the rights of nature, ecosystems and Indigenous people."
www.theblaze.com
thefederalist.com
Why do liberals ALWAYS try to ruin the Fourth of July?
No matter the occasion, someone will always try to ruin it. Unfortunately, this is especially the case if they’re on the political left and the occasion has anything to do with patriotism.
This time it was the Fourth of July, and one naysayer who wanted to upset all in celebration was the notoriously liberal ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s.
Ben & Jerry’s took the holiday opportunity to tear down America, despite the financial success that our capitalist system has allowed the company.
The brand wrote in a tweet: “This 4th of July, it’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it.”
Sara Gonzales is less than amused.
“Um, actually it was conquered,” Gonzales responds, “because that’s how things work.”
Pat Gray agrees, adding that every other land has been conquered, “but it’s only us and Israel that ever has to be labeled that way.”
Jaco Booyens is also in agreement.
“We celebrate King Charles. They only colonized, I mean, just about everything,” Booyens says, adding, “but, hey, listen, that quote comes from an ice cream company.”
One Twitter user, Ashley St. Clair, pointed out that Ben & Jerry’s is technically stealing milk from cows for its ice cream.
“What about that? Did they give consent to that?” Gonzales mocks.
While leftist companies and politicians do what they can to ruin the Fourth of July for others, Gonzales and her guests aren’t letting them ruin the true spirit of the Fourth and what it stands for.
“The freedom to be who God’s called you to be, but in unity, in this nation, you become an American. And that’s what sets us apart. There is no other nation on earth that historically has had unity to move as a unit,” Booyens says.
“And all things in the world work better like that. Light focused, become a laser,” he adds.
Want more from The News & Why It Matters?
To enjoy more roundtable rundowns of the top stories of the day, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.