Beware nasty weapons of mass degradation
in fight against ‘Little Red Sambo”

by Ed Rice

We live in a curiously impolite era. We know no new sporting team in this country -- whether spawned to give identity to a new grade school, college or amateur team, or to promote the creation of a new professional enterprise --  would dare feature a mascot or logo with a direct racial or ethnic theme. And, of course, no one would seriously contemplate a design that would clearly be offensive to the Black, the Hispanic, the Jewish communities, etc.

Yet, sadly and tragically, the Native American race hasn’t earned such universal respect.  Otherwise why would we continue to accept the “traditions” of the Florida State Seminoles, the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Redskins and, yes, the Cleveland Indians, who blithely continue on the same deplorable paths?

Fortunately, in recent times, some colleges -- like Stanford, St. John’s and the University of Massachusetts -- and countless high schools across the land (here in Maine, two high schools have dropped the nickname “Redskins”) have reversed disrespectful traditions. 

Clearly, even with Native Americans, there are boundaries. No one, for instance, would think to create a new television series or blockbuster movie in which Native Americans are depicted as “raping, murdering savages” to be killed by the truckloads...as was the case all through the 1950s.

For quite some time now I’ve found it a tad incongruous that we “celebrate” the Native American prowess as “warriors.” Why, really, are the eggheads in this society so enamored with the Native American fighting capability when they’re also so proud that our national policy was once, simply, to slaughter Indians and quarantine the survivors on reservations?

Perhaps, when the moron culture is looking for a more dynamic persona for our U.S. Olympic teams, it’s really right under their own insensitive noses. What’s our most crushing, warrior-like moment in our national history? Isn’t it when we detonated two atomic devices and ended Japanese hostilities in the unquestioned most devastating manner in world history? So, how about a new battle cry and logo when we enter into Olympic “battle”? We’ll use the symbol of the mushroom-shaped cloud and proclaim: “We drop The Big One.”

What?...Toooo insensitive?...In toooo much poor taste?

Ask a Native American how he or she feels watching some white high school or college student portray a warring Indian, prancing about, doing war-whoops...mocking sacred symbols and sacred dances.

One Native American student once wrote in an essay assigned by me: “How would Catholics feel...seeing someone, representing some sporting team named the Monks, throw something representing Holy Water into the crowd as part of the clamor for something as trivial as a sports victory?”

Another Native American student once described to me the shame she felt, at a local high school game where a mascot was wearing an Eagle feather and pretending to do a dance, when her teen-aged daughter asked her why their culture was being shown so much disrespect. Both had tears in their eyes, and both determined to leave right then, together.

Those of you who fight the good (but thus far, sadly, largely unrecognized) fight to shame the Cleveland baseball team into doing the right thing, know, presently, the message falls on deaf ears.

I hope you know you’re in good company: The Penobscot Nation mailed a resolution to the Cleveland franchise back in 2000, asking the team to “cease and desist” from using the shameful, racist caricature that is Chief Wahoo...and to this very day the Penobscots have not gotten a single word of acknowledgment that the resolution was even received.

To be told “Yes” or even “No” is one thing; to be ignored completely, it seems to me, is the greatest indignity, the greatest insult of all. Penobscot Tribal Governor, Chief Barry Dana, and the Penobscot Council deserve far, far better at the hands of the Cleveland ownership.

As we all know, the Cleveland baseball team continues to offer the ultimate disrespect to the very man who inspired the team’s nickname, first termed “official” in 1915. It was Penobscot tribesman, Louis Sockalexis, from Indian Island, in central Maine, whose very presence during spring training of 1897 caused a sensation and relegated the previous nickname “Spiders” to the bench.

I would suggest the disrespect runs deeper than even what the knowledgeable baseball fan knows.

Probably because of the nature of his brief, meteoric career in Cleveland, Sockalexis remains an enigmatic figure...not only for the team and its fans, but those concerned with the issue of disrespect for Native Americans in America today.

As the author of a book on Sockalexis, I have three important points I wish to make about the historical Penobscot baseball player and slights to his legacy that concern me greatly.

1.  It probably will never be determined if the phrase “in honor of” is appropriate when pondering whether the team adopted the nickname in 1915 to celebrate Sockalexis himself and the role he had played in the team’s history. An early biographer of the team, the late Franklin Lewis, seems to be the genesis for a tale that would have us believe the words “in honor of” are deserved; however, significant mistakes Lewis made in explaining the situation at the time and his lack of detailed information about specific individuals involved are substantially damning to his story. One thing, however, is undeniably true: Louis Sockalexis was the sole inspiration for the nickname “Indians” for the major league baseball team in Cleveland and should never, ever have that legacy questioned.

2.  Several baseball historians, following the ill-advised lead of Baseball Hall of Fame historian Lee Allen as recently as the early 1960s, have wrongfully stripped the title of “First Indian” to play major league baseball from Louis Sockalexis and anointed James Madison Toy with the title. There are no records whatsoever that give credibility to the claim for Toy and even his own living relatives question the validity of the claim. Understand this: Even if Toy possesses some Indian blood the record book makes pretty clear that no teammate, no rival, no fan, no media representative writing about the game knew that he claimed an Indian heritage...and that was hardly true of Sockalexis when he came along less than a decade later.

3.  One of the greatest collegiate players of his era, Sockalexis was honored as a charter member of the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Massachusetts) Athletic Hall of Fame when it was created in 1956.  And when he created a sensation for the first three months of the 1897 season, he stood up to the most deplorable racist treatment imaginable -- indeed, treatment only Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby could say they experienced as well. To this day, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown continues to cheat Louis Sockalexis of an extraordinary legacy to which he is entitled, and the City of Cleveland continues to fail to recognize it could easily lay claim to an extraordinary shared legacy that no city in the United States can proclaim: Home of the First Indian to play, and the First Black to play in the American League.

Finally, when I was on a four-day visit to Cleveland in August of 2003, to promote my book, I learned two staggering bits of information from a producer, just prior to a live interview conducted with me, at the public broadcasting station in downtown Cleveland. He said there were two very significant reasons why the Cleveland ownership wasn’t about to give Chief Wahoo his walking papers...no matter how insidious and insulting he might be. According to the local Cleveland news reporter, the Cleveland logo is the second most popular baseball logo in this country, second only to the New York Yankees logo. And second, there are just too many Native Americans around this country, Mexico and elsewhere -- apparently those with very low self-esteem -- who wear caps with the logo proudly. Go figure...

So, the enemy is armed with nasty weapons of mass degradation -- the logo makes unconscionable sums of money and you can even find Native Americans most everywhere who will wear it --  to combat our simple pleas for civility, respect and the act of simply doing the right thing.

The fight remains a difficult one. Just, please, don’t ever find yourselves denigrating the ability and the person of Louis Sockalexis, and the impact his mere presence made, when attacking the use of this ridiculous mascot and logo. And don’t ever give up the fight!

Ed Rice of Orono, Maine is a journalist and teacher. He is author of the book BASEBALL’S FIRST INDIAN, Louis Sockalexis: Penobscot Legend, Cleveland Indian, and a member of the Maine Coalition for Tribal Sovereignty. He has a web site at www.4edrice.com