Credit: Sam Allard / Scene
In the latest effort to pressure the Cleveland Indians organization to get rid of Chief Wahoo, the local chapter of the American Indian Movement has asked for a dialogue with the Progressive Corporation, the insurance giant based in Mayfield that owns the naming rights to the Indians’ stadium until 2024.

Cleveland AIM sent a letter to Progressive on May 1 asking for a meeting within 30 days. As of May 17, the group had received no response.

The ask: Remove the Progressive name and corporate brand from the baseball stadium “until such time as both the exploitative “Indians” team name and the flagrantly racist red-faced “Wahoo” caricature are changed.”

In a statement, AIM’s local director, Sundance, said he believed this tactic [appealing to the Indians’ corporate sponsors] was appropriate “when the perpetrators of bigotry are unresponsive to repeated pleas for decency.”

AIM questioned whether the Progressive Corporation was living up to one of the “core values” listed on its website — “the golden rule.”

“We respect all people, value the differences among them and deal with them in the way we want to be dealt with,” the Progressive site states. “This requires us to know ourselves and to try to understand others.”

AIM’s local council of elders believes that attaching the Progressive name to institutionalized racism “directly contradicts” this core value. “Racism is not progressive,” the statement concluded.

Credit: Photo via Instagram, lifeaslizx0
Progressive Public Relations rep Jeff Sibel told Scene that the Progressive Field sponsorship provides Progressive the ability to increase their brand awareness in Ohio and throughout the country.

“Chief Wahoo or the nickname “Indians” were never a part of our contract discussions with the team,” Sibel said. He did not address whether or not Progressive would meet with AIM. 

Sundance told Scene that AIM has started an online petition and that they have planned a demonstration for June 1 outside Progressive’s corporate headquarters in Mayfield. 

The Progressive Corporation bought the stadium naming rights in 2008 for $58 million over 16 years, or about $3.6 million per year. The stadium was formerly known as Jacobs Field. 

This article appears in May 11-17, 2016.

Sam Allard is a former senior writer at Scene.

4 replies on “Cleveland Native American Group Wants Progressive Insurance to Disavow Indians, Stadium”

  1. If they’re serious about this, let’s see them demand that the Tomahawk Missile be renamed first. The Atlanta Brave fans have received the same criticism for the Tomahawk chop, as being disparaging. I would think that the Tomahawk Missile would be a much more offensive reference, as it is a weapon of mass destruction and mass murder. Let’s see if the government pressures major campaign contributors like the merchants of death, or just picks on the easy targets, just to give the appearance of doing good, and lying as usual.

  2. The team has been the Indians for years as has the Chief Wahoo logo. So many teams in so many cities have similar names. Progressive Insurance had nothing to do with naming the team or choosing the mascot, which is no longer prominently displayed anymore. I think it’s time to finally give it up. The team isn’t going to change their name, Chief Wahoo won’t be going away, and Progressive Insurance wants their name prominently displayed on the stadium.

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