"We're supposed to be heartened by the Cleveland Indians' announcement that the team will further reduce its use of Chief Wahoo, an offensive racial caricature that serves as its logo," the editorial, published earlier this week, began. "But frankly, it's hard to get excited. Given that the team acknowledges the image is odious to many people, why not just scrap it altogether?"
Fair question.
Like many local opponents of the logo, the L.A. Times felt that Paul Dolan's celebration of Wahoo as part of the team's history and legacy (and his willingness to profit off of merchandise bearing Wahoo's likeness) was incompatible with his alleged empathy.
"We'll continue to do what we think is appropriate," was as far as Dolan's empathy would take him in his one-on-one interview with Terry Pluto last week.
"It's silly for Dolan to simultaneously acknowledge the problem and then cling to it for the sake of team history," the L.A. Times wrote. "The team, and the league, should do better, and consign this history to where it belongs: a museum."
Locally, Councilman Zack Reed is celebrating legislation passed at a City Council meeting Monday night which he thinks will chip away at the presence of Wahoo in Cleveland. The legislation will regulate the display of banners on downtown utility poles. Permits will now be required from the city’s Design Review Committee before banners may be hung downtown. (Since 1984, no permits have been required). The Design Review Committee will also review the content of the banners.
Reed spearheaded the legislation specifically in order to lobby against the Cleveland Indians’ usage of Chief Wahoo imagery in their banners around Progressive Field.
“This moved us closer to ridding the landscape of Chief Wahoo,” Reed wrote Scene.
Also on the #WahooWatch: Bomani Jones appeared on the Mike & Mike show Thursday morning sporting a t-shirt mocking the Indians and Chief Wahoo. You've probably seen it before.
Helluva shirt there @bomani_jones cc: @ClevelandFrowns pic.twitter.com/Tg1IK255hO
— Vince Grzegorek (@vincethepolack) April 7, 2016
