The new NFL dynasty is the Kansas City Chiefs who are now back to back champions for the first time in decades. It is official that this team is the face of the league and the next dynasty of the 2020s. However, there is a Native American group of activists that wants to do away with the team name and the cultural appropriation of Native American culture that the team uses.
NFL: Group Of Activists Want Kansas City To Change Team Name
The activist group is called ‘Not In Our Honor, and per the Associated Press, it is a collective dedicated activists to the eradication of Native American imagery in sports. The group is led by Rhonda LeValdo who has been working tirelessly for many years on changing the imagery in sports. She went to the Super Bowl to call for the Chiefs franchise to change their name and get rid of the logo and in game rituals that they do that take directly from cultural aspects of Native Americans.
She was quoted saying:
“I’ve spent so much of my personal time and money on this issue. I really hoped that our kids wouldn’t have to deal with this,” LeValdo explained. “But here we go again.”
NFL Vows To ‘End Racism’ But Not Against Native Americans
LeValdo and the group of activists also took a major issue with the NFL for the “End Racism” tag lines that are all over the field and players helmets, while they are promoting the Chiefs. This team name references her people in what she feels is a negative way.
“We were like, ‘Wow, you guys put this on the helmets and on the field, but look at your name and what you guys are doing,'” LeValdo said. “We weren’t even allowed to be Native American. We weren’t allowed to practice our culture. We weren’t allowed to wear our clothes. But it’s OK for Kansas City fans to bang a drum, to wear a headdress and then to act like they’re honoring us? That doesn’t make sense.”
It is strange that the Washington team had to change their the Chiefs have never faced any of the same pressure. The team also uses direct cultural aspects of the Native American tribe in their in game rituals which is something Washington never did. We will see if these activist can make a change to the new dynasty, but it does not seem like any change will happen soon or ever.
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