As Halloween approaches, we know that we can look forward to a few yearly traditions. People dressing up in costumes. Gathering to take pictures with others in their own costumes. And looking in horror at the inevitable costume choice by some college student or yokel who decided that putting on blackface might be a good idea.
We don’t agree on too much these days but, I think, we’re all on the same page that such things are a no-go zone. We probably have a sliding scale in terms of how offensive you think it might be, from “blatantly racist” to “distasteful,” but you won’t find too many people willing to stand up and defend the action, especially if it was done by a white person of privilege.
Beyond that, I’m guessing things get a bit dicier. While it might be easy to say that a white person doing “brownface” to imitate an Indian or “redface” to imitate a Native American is equally as out of bounds, you’re more likely to face some pushback on that. It’s usually around this point that you’ll start hearing about how the PC police are getting out of control and that you need to learn how to take a joke. Smarter people than me have probably determined why that is but a guess that many white Americans don’t have as much of a loaded history interacting with those groups. So it’s easier to dress up like a Native American and make jokes at their expense because the chances you’ll knowingly run into a Native American during your day is pretty slim.
Of course the actual history between Native Americans and white Americans is another story. It’s a story that continues right this very second with protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline and the impending pathway that will run through the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation. It’s a story that isn’t receiving nearly enough attention given the historical and modern-day implications.
In a cruel twist of fate, however, there is a lot of talk about Native Americans right now but it doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on in North Dakota. Instead it has everything to do with what’s going on in Cleveland and Chicago.
The 2016 World Series has mostly been a pre-coronation of the Chicago Cubs, whom everyone outside of the state of Ohio seems to be rooting for. As for the Cleveland Indians, their resurgent use of Chief Wahoo as their main logo has resurfaced the long-running discussion about whether or not the team should get rid of it altogether.
This is nothing new for those in Cleveland. There have been protests and op-eds calling for the end of the mascot for years. One rival team’s play-by-play announcer actually refuses to use the name “Indians,” let alone mention the mascot. With word that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wants to have a sit-down with Cleveland’s owners after the season to discuss future usage of the logo, it’s clear that sooner or later the team is going to have to deal with this. Appeasing sports fans for the sake of tradition is hardly worth the karmic injustice.
It’s curious then that Fox doesn’t seem to have any issue with putting Indians fans wearing full redface and headdress on their World Series broadcasts. One such fan found his way on TV Wednesday night before a commercial break.
TFW you become self aware and learn what racism is at the exact same time.#Cubs #Indians #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/IBQES2Qdum
— Daniel Van Kirk (@danielvankirk) October 27, 2016
Joe Buck’s chuckle only helped to make the entire thing more disconcerting. Altogether, the moment felt like a real undercutting of the fact that we were looking at a white man in redface. Had the man been sitting there in blackface with a watermelon in his lap, no one would have been chuckling and he probably would have been escorted out of the stadium. Instead, we continue to treat it as harmless fun at no one’s expense.
It’s standard practice in broadcasting that when a fan runs onto the field of play during a game, the camera doesn’t show them as a way to avoid encouraging the behavior in other fans. Perhaps that’s step one in what can be done to discourage Cleveland fans from continuing this practice. People who dress up like this don’t go through all that effort to not be seen and TV channels have been more than happy to shine a light on them for years. If we treated such displays the way we treat a trespasser or a sign with an inflammatory remark on it, it might be the way to send a message without sending a message.
Of course there are easier ways to accomplish all of this. The Indians could eliminate the logo altogether. They could actually stick to their original plan of de-emphasizing Chief Wahoo, instead of rallying behind the logo like they have in this postseason. MLB could take a stronger stance against racist logo usage.
In the meantime, however, there’s no reason for Fox to give attention to more people painting their faces and donning a headdress to look like a caricature of a Native American, no matter their sports allegiances. To do so only encourages more of it and recommits us to the notion that it’s no big deal.
Native Americans get so very little respect from the rest of this country, the least we can do is not shine a light on it during baseball games so that a few ignorant people can get their fifteen minutes.
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