No matter. At least 131 people, per Facebook, plan to attend the gathering decked out in “Wahoo or nothing.” They will, according to the event, “not let [their] beloved icon go without defending his honor.”
These “loyal, insane, neurotic, fanatical” folks will “pay homage to the 90 good long years following the Chief into battle,” and they’ll toast to “another 90 years paying homage to Louis Sockalexis, the first Native American player in MLB history.” (See Scene’s reporting, once again, for refutation of the Sockalexis myth.)
Here’s hoping things don’t get dicey with the anti-Wahoo protesters, who intend to set up shop as well. They argue that the team’s decision to officially remove Wahoo from all team apparel and signage next season doesn’t go far enough.
“The team will still be cashing in on racism by selling Chief Wahoo merchandise,” said Marjorie Shelltrack-Villafane, Chairperson of the Committee of 500 Years, in a press release. “We will still be subjected to that demeaning logo, and fans will continue to mock us by wearing fake headdresses, war-whooping, and yelling slurs at us.”
Should be a fun, especially now that the pro-Wahoo crowd will be actively participating in the same sort of activism for which they’ve disparaged their opponents for years.
One organizer for the pro-Wahoo rally, however, has called for courtesy:
“Our hope is that everyone remains respectful and courteous as we remember that we will be in a family atmosphere,” wrote Joe Costello. “Please also remember that our goal is to show our support for the Chief; and that our goal is not, in any way, to degrade or tear down those who would disagree with us.”
This article appears in Apr 4-10, 2018.
I’m gonna come dressed as white trash and support a name change for the team to “Elmer and Jethro” and see how that works for them.
I really hope to hell that when Wahoo goes away that Scene will have the decency to retire Wahoo-Sambo Redface-Blackface image for all time. How long has it been used now? A decade? MORE? If not, it seems like it. Please send it packing along with the Chief and make sure it never comes back. PLEASE?
We as a city are damn lucky it is going to be 40 and snowing on Opening Day…that will help to cool things down. If it were 75 or 80 and sunny (has that ever happened?), there would be a riot on East 9th, and once again Cleveland would look like the drunken uncle that ruins every family gathering. Or maybe more like Birmingham or Little Rock or Selma or South Side Chicago or a whole lot of other towns that have besmirched the pages of American history.
Hell, I want to keep the Chief, too, but please don’t get drunk and wear red-face and feathers and act like clowns and a-holes, okay? Cleveland has been laughed at enough for the last fifty years.
Heads up, Octopussy, it was Homer and Jethro, not Elmer…and you can look it up.
You gonna go as both of them, or what? Are two toothless heads better than one?
A cartoon is not offensive to any rational person
Scene, if you were doing your research, youd talk to Bob Zimmer at the Baseball Heritage Museum who would School you on Sockalexis and the Indians. But then you couldnt report the story the way you liked it best and that might mess up your day.
It occurs to me that by demonizing a group of people for something as innocent as having a different take on a work of art (and a caricature is a work of art) than Scene does, it is Mr. Allard that is using bigotry, not the Chief Wahoo supporters. How disappointing it is that it appears the bigots have won by de-emphasizing a beloved and happy symbol that has united people, not divided them. And that is why Chief Wahoo MUST stay. #KeeptheChief
The counter rally is a fascist attempt to silence any dissenters just like Marx would have wanted. They are destroying your culture and now all you’ve got it a “C” logo.
This is Marxism.
They should make the logo an image of The Prophet Muhammed so more Muslims would play baseball instead of it being so discriminatory towards them.
The following was posted on the Burning River Anarchists Collective Facebook (yes, these “Aanarchists” use Facebook bto communicate and organize):
“If can make it to this please do. It’s likely fans of the Cleveland baseball team will be particularly nasty this year as they retire their racist mascot. Come if you can, have each other’s back, and document the behavior of fans if possible.”
Cleveland Cuckolds. “Cuck’s” for short.
Hey, Sam…you piss and moan for years about the Chief but you do absolutely nothing to keep right-wing trolls from pissing all over your comment boards with multiple, anonymous, UNREGISTERED usernames, How the hell can anybody still have respect for you and your site when it starts looking like a graffiti-covered wall in a back alley? The answer is…they can’t. But you allow these liars and thugs to dump all over your property. When are you going tp wake up nad clean house? Probably never.
So far the best idea is to rename the team the Guardians in honor of the Lorain/Carnegie Bridge. It sounds similar to Indians, represents Cleveland and has no negative or racist connotations. Replace Wahoo with a Bridge Guardian.
Guardians has no meaning outside of Cleveland. Even most people here are unaware of them.
But hey, they could merge with Los Angeles and play half their home games in Anaheim.
Then they could be known as the L.A.-Cleveland Guardian Angels. Makes about as much sense.