the Cleveland team to give up its name of Indians, deemed racist

Cleveland, a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, will no longer bear the name of the Indians, considered racist by American influence groups.

The Cleveland Indians MLB team will drop its name, considered racist by several Native American groups, according to US media on Sunday. Known by this name for over a century, after adopting it in 1915, the Indians had come under pressure from American influence groups for several years to abandon their name, without success so far.

The Franchise had decided to drop its logo representing Chief Wahoo, a stereotypical caricature of Native Americans, in order to respond to criticism, before finally announcing that it had launched an in-depth study on his name.

Washington had abandoned the name of the Redskins

According to the New York Times, the team were to announce a name change during the week, without however specifying whether this change would be accompanied by the presentation of the new identity of the club. The Cleveland Indians are the latest professional team to shed their Native American image, after a similar change from the Washington American football team, which dropped its Redskins name earlier this year (Redskins ), for the same reasons.

Founded in 1900, the team began as Cleveland Lake Shores, before adopting the name Blues a year later and Naps, in reference to one of their historic stars, Napoleon « Nap » Lajoie, in 1902. They were the winners of the World Series, the final of the MLB, twice, in 1920 and 1948.

Trump denounces the « Cancel culture »

The announcement comes in a context of tension around names and collective memory, under the influence of a movement called « Cancel Culture » aimed at removing the presence in public space of controversial characters, starting with them. former Southern officers during the Civil War.

On Twitter, outgoing President Donald Trump did not hesitate to point the finger at this movement, estimating on Twitter Sunday in addition « that this is not good news, even for the ‘Indians’ « . Three professional clubs still bear names related to Native Americans: Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Club, Atlanta Braves Baseball Club, and Kansas City Chiefs American Football Club.