Imagining the Indian

The world’s eyes are on Kansas City’s NFL champs. Time to drop the racist imagery | Opinion

Jessie Atkin — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 18:04:54 +0000

The Kansas City football team has won the Super Bowl again.

And once again, the mockery of our Native American nations was seen worldwide and despite decades of opposition by tribes, tribal and urban Indian organizations, and individual Natives, the appearance of our acceptance of this mockery remains. One refrain also remains: that the team is honoring Native Americans.

‘It’s a public health issue’: inside the fight to change Native American mascots

Jessie Atkin — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 03:17:09 +0000

The documentary film-maker Ben West hails from Washington DC, and thus grew up rooting for its football team. He wore the gear, watched the games, cheered on an organization named for a slur against Native Americans. Even as a kid, West, who is Cheyenne, felt the dissonance between the team he rooted for and the supposedly “honorific” idea it represented – that Native Americans were a symbol of war and violence, a costume to be donned in the name of gladiatorial sport. “Is that me on that helmet?” he recalled thinking. “Is that me on that jersey? And does that name have anything to do with me?”

Ahead of Super Bowl, filmmakers challenge ‘honor’ of Kansas City Chiefs name, Native mascots: ‘We are not OK with this’

Jessie Atkin — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 03:16:08 +0000

As hundreds of thousands of football fans descend on Las Vegas for the Super Bowl this weekend, many Native American football fans will be bracing themselves for a familiar scenario they know, well, all too well — that is, tomahawk chops, plastic feather war bonnets and non-Native people beating a drum mimicking the same instrument used in sacred tribal ceremonies and celebrations.

That’s because going head-to-head Sunday with the San Francisco 49ers is a team that represents the last NFL holdout — and one of three remaining professional sports teams — to use Native American imagery in not only its team name but also its in-stadium practices: the Kansas City Chiefs. Read More

Documentary Calls Foul Against Racist Sports Mascots

Jessie Atkin — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 03:13:53 +0000

As fans cheer on the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, another group will also gather at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to make their voices heard: Not in Our Honor, a Kansas City coalition dedicated to ending the cultural appropriation of Native American people, plans to protest the AFC champions’ name, logo and chants.

The demonstration is part of a larger movement to eradicate Indigenous imagery throughout sports, an effort detailed in the documentary “Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting.” Co-produced by University of Maryland journalism Professor of the Practice and ESPN panelist Kevin Blackistone, it becomes available on Tuesday to stream on Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video.

“Imagining the Indian” Now Available on DVD and Streaming

Jessie Atkin — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:34:59 +0000

Directed by Aviva Kempner (The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg) and Cheyenne filmmaker Ben West, Imagining The Indian is a comprehensive look at the movement to eradicate the words, images, and gestures that many Native Americans and their allies find harmful, demeaning, and offensive.

The film examines mascoting issues through archival footage and interviews with those involved in the fight. It shows how teams such as the Kansas City football team has refused to consider a change and brings a new attention and urgency to the issue.

See the film on DVD, Amazon Video, or Apple TV!

The Best Movies of 2023 So Far

Jessie Atkin — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 16:13:08 +0000

“Imagining the Indian” makes the evolving critics’ list of 2023’s best films.

Native American mascoting documentary to be screened at McClung Museum

Jessie Atkin — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 17:55:41 +0000

On Friday, Nov. 17, the Native American Student Association, in collaboration with Multicultural Student Life and the McClung Museum, is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting.” The gathering will commence at 5:30 p.m. at the Frank H. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture. This evening promises not only a cinematic journey but also a live discussion with the film’s creators, Ben West and Yancey Burns.

Bill would ban Native American mascots at Massachusetts public schools

Jessie Atkin — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 17:25:16 +0000

The 23 schools in Massachusetts that use an image of an indigenous person as their school mascot would have to start looking for new names and logos under a bill that advocates are hoping will get passed this session.

After years of contentious debate over Native American mascots in school districts, some indigenous activists say it’s time to take the decision out of local hands.

Native Americans hope Taylor Swift can help get tomahawk chop banned from Chiefs games

Jessie Atkin — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 17:33:57 +0000

As romance rumors swirl around Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, a coalition of Native American leaders are hoping the pop star can help their cause against the tomahawk chop, a hand gesture they’ve been fighting to get banned from games for decades.

“We remain hopeful that an outside influence like Ms. Swift could be an ally for us in moving the conversation forward on why the chop is a racist act,” said a statement issued Monday by Not In Our Honor, a coalition of local Native American leaders and American Indian organizations in the Kansas City metro area.

Commanders owner on restoring the former name: ‘That ship has sailed.’

Jessie Atkin — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 14:03:44 +0000

The new owners of the Washington Commanders could opt for another name change, but they will not go back to using the team’s previous moniker, the Redskins.

“That ship has sailed,” Mitchell Rales, the top partner in Josh Harris’s ownership group, told a crowd of nearly 700 at a dinner hosted by David Rubenstein and the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. “We’re not going to re-litigate the past. We’re about the future. We’re about building the future and not having a divisive culture that we’re engaged in. We’re going to look at everything come the end of the year and think about a lot of different things and do a lot of testing and see what people think. And we’ll learn. The beauty is we have the time to look at all of this stuff intelligently and make fan-based decisions.”