The mascot of the Kansas City Chiefs, a professional American football team, is named "Warpaint." The horse has been the mascot of the team since the 1960s and is an important symbol of the team's Native American-inspired identity. Warpaint is a live horse that performs at home games and runs onto the field after every touchdown scored by the Chiefs. The horse is ridden by a person dressed in Native American attire, further emphasizing the team's connection to Native American culture. The use of Native American imagery as mascots in sports has been controversial, and some argue that it perpetuates harmful stereotypes. Despite this, the Chiefs have maintained their use of Warpaint as their beloved mascot.
Little Ginny Polkadot : Book 2
The story of Superman has always been my childhood favorite. The creators of Superman were Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They were classmates at Cleveland Glenville High School. They signed their DC Comics contract and received their first royalty check for Superman's creation on March 1, 1938. I was born on March 1, 1949, in Glenville Hospital, only the length of a football field from the house where Siegel and Shuster created Superman. Drawn to the gravitational pull of Superman, I dreamed of young kids having superpowers that are used only for the common good of mankind. I knew a girl named Ginny who wore polka dot dresses. I asked her what she would do if her polka dots possessed magic only for her. I never forgot that idea of "Little Ginny Polkadot" who, as Virginia Rose Stewart, was a seventh grader in Manhattan when her mother, Mandy, suddenly was killed in an "accident." Ginny never knew her father, Ramone, who had mysteriously disappeared before Ginny's birth. Ramone left Mandy a gift for their unborn child, a crystal lattice which, if used in the right way, gave Ginny unexplained superpowers. The world's evil nuclear powers China, Russia, and North Korea race each other to discover Ginny's true identity, kidnap her, in their schemes to control those superpowers for their own purposes. Little Ginny wants to understand her father and her own mission in life. This is the first of a series of twelve books about the challenges and adventures of the superpower of "Little Ginny Polkadot."
What is the chiefs mascot name
The recent decision of the Kansas City Chiefs to no longer allow fans to wear “headdresses and face paint styled in a way that references or appropriates American Indian cultures” in an attempt to distance themselves from blatant racism while keeping established brand identity, indicates that management understands the negative social impact of their brand; and national sports franchises, such as Kansas City, Missouri’s National Football League organization, the Chiefs, should not be a vehicle of institutionalized racism.
The harmful stereotypes associated with the Kansas City team’s use of race-based mascots permeate every facet of society in and around Kansas City. Our youth are subjected to advertisements on radio, TV, and marketing displays in every grocery store, including pork chops advertised as the “tomahawk chop” and “Can’t Stop the Chop” ads featuring football fans singing the stereotypical song and doing the tomahawk chop. Additionally, fast food features ads that they will “feed the tribe,” and a local Sonic’s sign stating, “KC CHIEFS’ WILL SCALP THE REDSKINS FEED THEM WHISKEY SEND – 2 – RESERVATION,” add to dehumanizing propaganda our youth are bombarded with, leading to lowered self-esteem and self-worth, and potentially leading to increased violence against American Indian youth; and there has been scientific research conducted to determine the harmful psychological effects these “Native” sports mascots on our Native youth.
The American Psychological Association has determined that these representations also undermine the ability of Native nations and people to portray themselves accurately as distinct and diverse cultures, and that stereotypical images are a dominant culture’s prejudiced representations of a racial or ethnic minority group; (Urging the U.S. Secretary of Education to Take Substantive Action Regarding Schools with “Native” Sports Stereotypes, NCAI Resolution ATL-14-011, October 26-31, 2014).
We are calling on the Kansas City Chiefs to cease their use of racialized Native American branding by eliminating all imagery of or evocative of Native American culture, traditions, and spirituality from their team franchise by changing their name including the logo. This includes the use of Native terms, drum, arrows, or monikers that assume the presence of Native American culture and apply the NFL’s “zero tolerance” for on-field use of racial and homophobic slurs to all races and ethnic groups, especially Native Peoples.
The Kansas City Chiefs continue to use Native American imagery and stereotypical behavior, while they and the NFL hypocritically campaign to #EndRacism. It is an embarrassment to our city for the football team to continue to use a name and imagery from the pre-Civil Rights Act era. The Chiefs must change their name and discontinue their use of Native imagery and behaviors. It is past time for a true understanding of Native American people and their contributions to society, rather than the continued caricature.
Can Swiftmania Finally Help Change the Kansas City Chiefs’ Name?
Since Taylor Swift attended last Sunday’s Kansas City Chiefs game, the path of her impact has been clear and undeniable. Jersey sales for Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Swift’s rumored boyfriend, have increased by 400 percent. Interest in Chiefs tickets has skyrocketed, according to StubHub. Swifties have even started giving each other crash courses on football and just what exactly a tight end is. But for Native American advocacy group Not In Our Honor and founder Rhonda LeValdo, the Taylor-Swift-ification of the Kansas City Chiefs isn’t just a pop culture moment — they’re hoping it’s a chance to finally end the “cruel legacy” of the NFL franchise’s name.
“It’s not just at the gate. It’s on the radio. It’s on commercials. It’s in, you know, random areas, like people will start doing tomahawk chop at concerts, or at basketball games. It’s completely ridiculous,” LeValdo says. “For us that live here, in this community, we have to deal with it on a daily basis.”
Since 2005, LeValdo and members of Not In Our Honor have protested Kansas City Chiefs games over the team’s name and famous game gesture: the tomahawk chop. In fact, LeValdo was outside the gate when they saw the police escort Swift’s vehicles into the stadium. And with attention firmly on the franchise, LeValdo wants Swift fans to know why they’re fighting, and then join in.
“Sometimes it takes an outsider to explain to the people on the inside why this is wrong,” LeValdo says. “So I’m hoping that’s the case, that maybe [Taylor Swift] can explain, as a non-Native person, why it’s problematic. I know she does a lot of advocacy for the LGBTQ community. You know, and our voices are silent. It’s terrible. People don’t care.”
Major league sports teams with Native American imagery have long been a cultural and political flashpoint in the U.S. In 2005, a report from the American Psychological Association found that mascots based on stereotypes had a harmful effect on “the social identity development and self-esteem of American Indian young people.” The group recommended the immediate retirement of all Native American-themed mascots, a cry echoed by large swaths of Native American advocacy groups. However, it took almost a decade until the racial reckoning of 2020, and the growing Black Lives Matter movement, for teams to respond. While most major league teams have at least acknowledged aspects of their traditions and names that are problematic or based on harmful stereotypes, only a handful, like the Washington Commanders and the Cleveland Guardians, have fully followed through with removing Native American imagery.
Despite this, the Chiefs have maintained their use of Warpaint as their beloved mascot..
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Among uncertainty about rebrands, the Kansas City Chiefs have maintained that their name will stay the same. A section of their website titled “celebrating American Indian heritage” asserts that the sports team was named after Kansas City Mayor H. Roe Bartle, whose nickname was Chief — and the name had “no affiliation with American Indian culture.” However, records from both the State Historical Society and the Kansas City Star note that Bartle received the nickname during his time at the Boy Scouts, where he built an honor society named the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, fashioned after an amalgamation of Native American imagery and traditions. The Kansas City Chiefs did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
LeValdo notes that while the Kansas City Chiefs have held up keeping their name by citing approval from other Native American groups, the end result is a franchise that knows its practices were hurtful and refuses to fully correct them.
“It’s really disrespectful, and it’s tone deaf by Kansas City,” LeValdo says. “Because they have these things on their website, like, you know, ‘We’re against systemic racism.’ And it’s like, ‘Well, hello!’ What do you think you guys are doing right now?”
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Reviews for "The Chiefs Mascot Name: Memorable Moments and Fan Reactions"
- John - 1/5 stars - I found the topic of this discussion rather offensive. The use of Native American mascots in sports is a highly controversial and sensitive issue, and I feel like this podcast episode didn't address it properly. It didn't provide any historical context or discuss the potential harm these mascots can cause to Native American communities. I think it was a missed opportunity to have a more responsible and insightful conversation.
- Sarah - 2/5 stars - As a fan of the podcast, I was disappointed with this episode. The hosts didn't seem well-informed about the controversy surrounding Native American mascots, and their lack of research was evident. They focused more on trivial aspects, like what the chief's mascot's name could be, rather than exploring the deeper implications and discussions surrounding such mascots. I wish they had approached the topic with more thoughtfulness and sensitivity.
- Mike - 1/5 stars - This podcast episode was tone-deaf and insensitive. It completely disregarded the concerns and criticisms raised by indigenous communities and activists regarding the use of Native American mascots. Instead of critically examining the issue, it trivialized it by turning it into a guessing game about the chief's mascot's name. I expected a more thoughtful and informed discussion from this podcast, but unfortunately, this episode missed the mark completely.
- Emily - 2/5 stars - I understand that the intent of this episode may have been light-hearted, but I believe they missed the mark by not addressing the concerns and controversies surrounding Native American mascots. It felt dismissive and uneducated, which is disappointing from a podcast that usually provides well-researched content. I hope they take the time to revisit this topic and approach it with more sensitivity in the future.