Cleveland Indians Are Now Cleveland Guardians

Indians are not Cleveland’s mascot. On Friday morning, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team replaced the Native American moniker and imagery it had used since 1915 and adopted a new identity. It followed a decision by the National Football League's Washington, D.C. franchise to remove an offensive name and Native imagery last year. A video posted to Twitter, narrated by Tom Hanks and scored by the Black Keys delved into Cleveland’s history and revealed the team’s new name: The Cleveland Guardians. https://twitter.com/Indians/status/1418565355472101378 The change comes in response to decades of protest by Native groups and, by team owner Paul Dolan’s own admission, the nation’s reaction to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police last year. The team previously addressed its mascot in half-measures, removing the Chief Wahoo caricature logo from its uniforms in 2018 while still selling such gear at its ballpark and on its website. The new team brand was selected from a list of 1,200 and will be the franchise’s fifth name after the Blues (1901), Bronchos (1902), Naps (1903-14) and Indians (1915-2021). The new name refers to four Art Deco sculptures known as the Guardians of Traffic, which grace the entrances of the Hope Memorial Bridge just beyond the team’s ballpark. “It brings to life the pride Clevelanders take in our city and the way we fight together for all who choose to be part of the Cleveland baseball family,” Dolan said in a statement. “While 'Indians' will always be a part of our history, our new name will help unify our fans and city as we are all Cleveland Guardians." That history will overstay its welcome for a few more months: The team won’t use its Cleveland Guardians name and logo until after the end of the 2021 season. The change, however, comes as other major- and minor-league teams move away from Native names and imagery. Last year, Washington, D.C.’s NFL team changed its name after grassroots activism from stadium sponsor FedEx and merchandise sales partners Amazon, Nike, Walmart, Target and Dick’s Sporting Goods. This year, the Portland Winterhawks junior hockey team shed its logo—borrowed from the National Hockey League’s Chicago Blackhawks—in favor of a new identity. Among Native activists, these name changes are met with both hope and healthy skepticism. Cleveland’s announcement today that they have officially changed their team name to Guardians is a welcomed one. —Crystal Echo Hawk, executive director and founder, IllumiNative Jacqueline Keeler, a journalist and author who helped launch the Not Your Mascot movement in 2013, traces the battle against Cleveland's mascot back to the Indian Relocation Act of 1956. The federal plan moved thousands of Native people from tribal land to urban centers like Cleveland. Among those moved were Keeler's Navajo mother and her Dakota Sioux father, who raised her in suburban Cleveland. She wrote about the experience in Salon in 2014, and credits the Black Lives Matter movement with bringing renewed attention to the issue. "Now, with the focus on Hope Memorial Bridge and Cleveland's history of working-class pride, I can again say I am proud to have been born on the shores of Lake Erie," Keeler says. "It is a bridge I have marched with other Not Your Mascot activists on Cleveland MLB game days in protest of the mascoting of Native people and admired the beauty of this city." "The hope the name imbues should extend to all Clevelanders of every race and ethnicity. That's the future all the Native people who have fought to stop Native mascotry." Vincent Schilling, associate editor of Indian Country Today, notes that while Native communities are not a monolith when it comes to their opinion on mascots—noting Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin’s opposition to the change—he sees sports mascots as relics of a troubled history that still affects current generations. “Though I don't speak for all Native people, in my career as a journalist, I run into the vast majority of Native people who don't like mascots and I will never forget the multitudes of Native young people who look at me with pain in their eyes, that tell me that sports mascots hurt them and the fact that teams still have such names make them feel like they are never listened to,” Schilling says. “And in a society where Native youth have the highest rates of suicide in the U.S. I can't help but enthusiastically applaud when such changes take place.” Washington Redskins Share Underwhelming New Team Name and Logo on Social Media