ESPN is Still Crying Over Indian Mascots
"Racist logos and offensive names are a nostalgic part of their memories...and they aren't willing to give them up."
11.29.2017
18
Is anyone else still talking about this?
In the December 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine, columnist Howard Bryant rantsabout American Indian references in the world of sports, specifically Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians and the NFL’s Washington Redskins. Why? Because the primary job of the Left is to be perpetually offended. Bryant does his job, to the tune of “How is This Still a Debate?” On the biweekly publication’s back page, ESPN's nutty Senior Writer tries to instigate Mascot Outrage’s comeback:
Thirteen months ago, before Game 2 of the World Series, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred shared a podium with Hall of Famer Henry Aaron and retiring Red Sox titan David Ortiz. Manfred was asked how, with the world watching baseball's marquee event, the league could still abide the Indians' using Chief Wahoo as a mascot. Manfred fidgeted, annoyed by the presence of a fastball where there were supposed to be only softballs. He insisted there was no place for racism in baseball and, attempting to douse the issue, said he and Cleveland Indians owner Paul Dolan would revisit the issue in the offseason.
A year later, Manfred suspended Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel for making a racist gesture at Yu Darvish during the World Series -- yet has left intact the smiling stereotype of Chief Wahoo. Players are so much easier to punish.
Oblivious to the simple innocence of a game centered around hitting a ball with a bat, Bryant continues his politically-skewed view of the sport, oddly finding the notion of an American Indian representing a formidable opponent in America’s greatest pastime to be racist. And, of course -- for good leftist measure -- tying in Thanksgiving:
While plates and bellies are loaded with turkey and stuffing this year, the Washington Redskins will, for the first time and quite controversially, host a game on Thanksgiving. Some eyes will roll at the suggestion that sports is humiliating a people, but neither fatigue nor cynicism can undo a central fact: There is plenty of room for racism in American sports. All the eye rolls in the world won't change that.
"Quite controversially?" Uh, no. Bryant then moves on to the NFL:
The customer is always right, but only if you're the seller. If you're not, it is obvious that the fan acts from selfishness. This is their entertainment, and the racist logos and offensive names are a nostalgic part of their memories and experience, and they aren't willing to give them up. Washington owner Daniel Snyder knows this, which is why he has spent his time and money bankrolling studies and Native American leaders who agree with him, to use them as cover instead of using common sense.
Again, how is it common sense that an Indian mascot is an insult to an Indian? Bryant doesn’t have time for things like explanation; he’s too busy shuddering in his safe space. Meanwhile, the facts aren’t on his side — according to a poll by The Washington Post, the vast majority of Native Americans find no offense in the Redskins name. But maybe that’s how the Left see themselves: their superpower is shouldering indignation when regular hard-working Americans are too busy raising their families to notice they’re supposed to be offended by meaningless crapola.
Meanwhile, Bryant takes the opportunity to really offend America — a great deal more people than those who comprise his left-wing group paralyzed by Indian references — by denigrating a foundation of our liberty:
"You cannot have capitalism without racism,” Malcolm X once said. His statement was directed toward the class warfare that lies at the root of capitalism, and it applies even to the blankets, foam fingers, jerseys, caps and T-shirts the sports teams sell, even on a day ostensibly dedicated to a giving of thanks and peace between settlers and natives. The hypocrisy is disgusting.
The irony of Bryant citing hypocrisy -- as he insults many while crying on a soapbox over an outlying few -- is perfectly left-wing. And, sadly, right at home at the now heavily-politicized network ESPN, folks. The letters now stand for Eschewing Sports for Political Nonsense. Or Endlessly Sniveling Political Nitwits. Or...well, feel free to write your own in the comments below.
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