Kansas City Chiefs name controversy
[2] Rhonda LeValdo (Acoma Pueblo), co-founder of Kansas City's Not In Our Honor Coalition, has called for a new team name and has described the tomahawk chop as synchronized racism.
[4] The Kansas City Chiefs were the last professional sports team in the United States to adopt a name or logo referencing Native Americans, although indirectly.
Following the appearance in the Kansas City Star of photographs of fans attending an October 2013 game wearing feathers and warpaint and doing the tomahawk chop, numerous Native Americans submitted complaints to the publication.
Writing for the Star's "Public Editor" column, Derek Donovan explained that he found the complaints "reasonable" and suggested that the newspaper depict "other colorful, interesting people in the crowds.
[17] The Star reported in early August 2014 that the team's management was planning discussions with some Native American groups to find a non-confrontational way to eliminate, or at least reduce, offensive behavior.
"[22] Native Americans at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, asked the Chiefs to stop behavior that invokes stereotypes, such as wearing headdresses and doing the "tomahawk chop", after the team made the playoffs in 2016.
[24] In a statistical analysis of social media comments (tweets) leading up to Super Bowl LIV, researchers found many more negative terms associated with the Kansas City team compared to San Francisco.
[26] The editorial board of the Kansas City Star stated that "It's time for a real examination of all of it: the tomahawk chop, the drum, Arrowhead Stadium, Warpaint, and the costumes worn by fans at the game.
[32] Before the kickoff of Super Bowl LV, members of the Florida Indigenous Rights and Environmental Equity (FIREE) protested for the termination of the Kansas City Chiefs name, chants, celebrations, and fan gear.
"[34] Members of FIREE want to express their feelings of pain when teams appropriate their culture, saying “when you make indigenous people into a mascot, it's extremely dehumanizing, especially for children.” Part of the continuous frustration is caused by the lack of learning and listening from associations and their fans.
Professor Rhonda LeValdo, from Haskell Indian Nations University expresses that the continuous appropriation of these customs is because "too many people don't care about Native Americans unless they can use our likeness for their companies, cars, or costumes.
"[37] In advance of Super Bowl LVII, some name change advocates point out the continued discriminatory behaviors by fans in spite of official efforts to eradicate them, and the academic research establishing the harms inherent in any stereotyping.
[38] Prior to notification of the protests, a decision was made to have the song "America the Beautiful" interpreted by Colin Denny (Navajo) in Plains Indian Sign Language, as a means of recognizing the number of tribes living in Arizona, the site of the game.
