Native American groups are expected to protest the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, calling for the AFC champions to drop their name and logo as they tackle the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57.
The Chiefs wear the arrowhead logo on their helmet and use a big drum to kick of their home games, as fans routinely engage in what’s often called the “tomahawk chop” chant, all of which critics say draw on offensive and racist stereotypes.
That is their third trip to the NFL title game in 4 years and Kansas City fans could be heard throughout Phoenix singing the “tomahawk chop” chant. It’s a jarring contrast to the displays of Native American culture and pride that Super Bowl hosts have invited to take part in the times leading as much as the sport.
Dancers from Indigenous Enterprise performed at Monday’s Opening Night festivities, becoming the primary Native Americans to perform on the annual media mega event.
In an odd juxtaposition, they took the stage minutes after Kansas City fans in attendance on the Footprint Center joined together in a loud rendition of their “tomahawk chop” chant.
“What the NFL is doing inside Phoenix, by bringing in indigenous dancers and artists, that’s celebrating the authentic, which is wonderful,” said Cher Thomas, an artist, community organizer and member of the Gila River Community. She shall be amongst those outside the sport on Sunday protesting.
“Nevertheless, the NFL concurrently condones Kansas City’s team and their names and monikers and their derogatory traditions.”
The NFL didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Chiefs supporter Benny Blades, 55, of Albuquerque, Recent Mexico, said he admired the team for “sticking to their guns” as he stood in Scottsdale’s Old Town, where fans broke out into spontaneous “tomahawk” chants on streets lined with shops selling Native American arts and crafts.
“We will’t say anything now since you’re gonna offend one or two percent of the people in america,” he said.
Scottsdale is directly adjoining to the Salt River-Maricopa Indian Community of greater than 7,000 residents, one in all Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes.
At Sunday’s preshow, when singer Babyface performs “America the Beautiful,” Navajo Colin Denny will provide North American Indian Sign Language interpretation.
Chiefs fans are all but assured to perform the “tomahawk chop” cheer loudly within the minutes before kickoff, as they did prior to the sport of their previous two Super Bowl appearances.
The Chiefs didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Ak-Chin Indian Community, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and the Tohono O’odham Nation, who’re partners with the Super Bowl host committee, didn’t reply to multiple interview requests. One other partner, Gila River Indian Community, didn’t make leadership available.
It’s removed from the primary time the Chiefs name and traditions have come under fire.
In 2019 the Kansas City Star called for an end to the chanting and chopping hand gestures.
Months later, in the times before the Chiefs’ Super Bowl overcome the San Francisco 49ers, the team told Reuters it had “engaged in meaningful discussions with a gaggle comprised of people with diverse Native American backgrounds and experiences” over the previous six years.
But amid a nationwide reckoning over race propelled by the Black Lives Matter Movement, their name and nearly all of their traditions remained intact, at the same time as the Washington Redskins dropped their nickname in July 2020. The Washington team later replaced the nickname, widely seen as a racist slur, with the Commanders.
A month later the Chiefs announced they’d ban the wearing of headdresses at Arrowhead Stadium, where the words “end racism” were painted in the long run zone and emblazoned on helmets in a nod to racial justice.
“They use that hashtag #EndRacism and it’s on their helmets. And it’s tone deaf,” said Rhonda LeValdo, an Acoma Pueblo journalist who founded the Not in our Honor coalition in 2005, to advocate against the usage of Native American imagery in sports.
“I don’t even understand what you guys are saying and you could have the Chiefs logo and also you guys are doing the chop.”
