The Problem With Chief Wahoo

The Problem With Chief Wahoo

Cleveland Indians long time mascot ‘Chief Wahoo’ has been under much criticism over the past couple years. TV2’s Zach Harley set out to find out why the mascot is such a problem.

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Chief Wahoo has been a prominent part of the Cleveland Indians since the late 1940s but in the past five years the response to the

deragotory, racist, and demeaning.  It stereotypes us and it attacks us as a race of people. – Robert Roche / Executive Director of the American Indian Education Center

mascot has been under heavy fire.  People not only in Cleveland but all over the country claim the mascot to be racist and demeaning towards Native Americans.

Native American protesters have been campaigning to get rid of the Wahoo since the early 70s but only recently have they caught the attention of the people.

Robert Roche, Executive Director of the American Indian Education Center, says the logo is “dthumberagotory, racist, and demeaning.  It stereotypes us and it attacks us as a race of people.”

Roche started protesting in 1993 right before the Cleveland Indians put themselves on the baseball map with those historical 90s playoff runs.

Chief Wahoo started in 1947 and since then has contributed between one and two billion dollars of revenue for the Cleveland Indians organization.

While the Native Americans don’t think it’s right they’re not getting a slice of the revenue, they’re not in it for the money.  They just want the logo gone and out of sight.

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