Native Americans have faced attacks on their culture and their ways of life for literally hundreds of years. Since Europeans came to the United States, First Nations peoples have been struggling for their right to exist as they are in the United States, and a new wave of hyper-woke leftists may be providing unique challenges.
Pressure to Cancel Native Culture
Native American activists have been under pressure to protect United States history and culture in recent years, claiming that they are under attack via cancel culture. In particular, recently the Kansas City Chiefs and the Boy Scouts of America have both appeared to be erasing traces of their Native American heritage.
The legacy of Kansas City, Missouri’s mayor and Arapaho tribal member Harold Roe “Chief” Bartle could be obliterated in some of the fallout that is facing the Chiefs. He is a foundational figure in the history of both the Chiefs and the Boy Scouts, but activists fear that his influence is going to be wiped through wokeist pressure.
A Movement to Ban a Chant
The genesis of this new fear on the part of Native Americans comes from a movement that has been gaining steam. The goal is to force the Chiefs and the NFL to end the famous “tomahawk chop” chant, under accusations of racism.
Not in Our Honor, a Kansas City-based group, said that the most famous current Chiefs fan, Taylor Swift, was a point of high hope for their organization. Media reports that were released during the football season revealed that the group hoped that Swift would be a good ally in their movement to end the allegedly racist chant.
Opposition from First Nations
The movement to end the chant has not been met kindly by First Nations peoples. Maurice the Native Patriot, a social media influencer who is a Swinomish Indian from Washington state, released a statement claiming, “It’s a woke firing squad looking to tear everything down by telling us that Native Americans and Americans need to be divided.”
Maurice pushed the point home by finishing,,”It’s becoming popular to think that even seeing a Native American image is racist.” This comes in the wake of many hyper-woke movements to ban images and depictions of Native American symbols and culture, such as war headdresses and Native American languages.
About Bartle
Bartle was the mayor of Kansas City in the 1960’s, when the AFL’s Dallas Texans moved to town. The team was renamed in honor of his efforts to bring the franchise to Missouri, according to the team website and city history.
He also spent a great deal of his life in the service of the Boy Scouts. He was a champion of civil rights, as well as being dedicated to Native American heritage. He is an incredibly important figure for both Kansas City and the Chiefs as a team, and there are many who believe that his influence and heritage is at risk.
The Boy Scouts Making Adjustments
Under pressure from woke activists, both the Chiefs and the Scouts have recently made moves that distance themselves from their Native American heritages. The Boy Scouts have been “looking to remove all Native American aspects of the program,” according to one Pennsylvania troop leader.
The Boy Scouts of America released a statement, assuring news organizations that the assumption that they were trying to distance themselves from Native heritage is false. Conversations with First Nations peoples has resulted in a movement towards respect of Native culture, but there is no official nationwide edict to change symbols of troops or anything else that hints at Native heritage.
The Kansas City Chiefs Targeting
Likewise, the Chiefs of Kansas City have been targeted by woke outrage for years. First over their name, and over the fact that they use many symbols of Native American identity in their marketing and their branding.
Now, due to the high-profile relationship between Taylor Swift and Chiefs team member Travis Kelce, the team has faced even greater calls for change. The call to get rid of the “tomahawk chop” is only one part of a targeted movement that appears to be trying to get the team to move away from its Native American heritage.
Concessions to Woke Activists
The team has conceded to woke protests in the past. They have banned “headdresses and face paint at the stadium on game day,” and they also “retired Warpaint.” Warpaint was a pinto horse mascot that represented the team for many years before he was taken off their branding.
The franchise even appears to be going to far as to subtly rewrite its own historical narrative. They have been changing symbols and influences in an apparent attempt to appease the cancel culture movement, but in the process, they have upset pro-Native American activists.
Changing the History of the Name
One notable example of this comes from the name itself. The Chiefs, as mentioned above, were named for H. Roe Bartle, who was the mayor of Kansas City and was deeply friendly and welcomed by local Native Americans. He was inducted into the Northern Arapaho Tribe as a blood brother, and sponsored into it by a chief named Lone Bear.
The official Chiefs website, though, claims that, “The origin of the team’s name has no affiliation with American Indian culture.” This is directly contradictory to many verbal and written histories of the team, and appears to be a stance that has been taken in order to appease woke activists.
Cancel Culture is Insidious
Cancel culture is creating unique challenges in America, and Native Americans are facing greater challenges than most. Cancel culture and woke activists are pushing a movement that makes First Nations peoples to feel ashamed of any part of their culture, whether its actually offensive or not.
The effort is providing a platform to divide Americans on largely imaginary issues. Native Americans and everyday Americans do not believe in separating based on these miniscule aspects of culture, and in their movement, woke activists are only creating further division when they say that they’re pushing for connectivity among all peoples.
