海角大神

Pressure is mounting for the Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs to abandon a popular tradition in which fans break into a 鈥渨ar chant鈥� while making a chopping hand motion designed to mimic the Native American tomahawk.

Local groups have long argued that the team鈥檚 chop tradition and even its name itself are derogatory to American Indians, yet the national attention focused for years on the Washington football team鈥檚 use of the name Redskins and the cartoonish Chief Wahoo logo, long the emblem for the Cleveland Indians baseball team. In the past year, those teams have decided to ditch their Native American-themed monikers, and now the defending champion Chiefs are generating more attention due to a second consecutive appearance on football鈥檚 biggest stage.

A coalition of Native American groups has put up billboards in the Kansas City area to protest the tomahawk chop and Chiefs鈥� name. A protest is planned outside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, site of Sunday鈥檚 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the coalition has hired a plane to fly around the area. A few thousand people have signed onto two online petitions, one of them started by a fourth-grader.

The Chiefs made some changes in the fall, barring headdresses and war paint and making a subtle alteration to the chop, with cheerleaders using a closed fist instead of an open palm to signal the beating of a drum.

But Gaylene Crouser, executive director of the Kansas City Indian Center, found the tweak to be laughable.

鈥淭hey think that that somehow helps, and they are still playing that ridiculous Hollywood Indian song, which is such a stereotypical Indian song from like old Cowboy movies or something. I don鈥檛 know how they feel that that made any difference at all,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not like their fans are doing it any different either.鈥�

Chiefs president Mark Donovan said barring face paint and headdresses from its stadium was a 鈥渂ig step.鈥�

鈥淵ou are going to have opinions on all sides on what we should and shouldn鈥檛 do,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to continue to have those discussions. We鈥檙e going to continue to make changes going forward, and hopefully changes that do what we hope, which is respect and honor Native American heritage while celebrating the fan experience.鈥�

But the changes aren鈥檛 nearly enough for the St. Petersburg-based Florida Indigenous Rights and Environmental Equality, which plans to protest near the stadium Sunday ahead of the kickoff, singing and holding signs.

Group co-founder Alicia Norris described the chop as 鈥渆xtremely disrespectful,鈥� saying it 鈥渃onjures up images of Native Americans, indigenous people as savages.鈥�

鈥淣ow the team wants to backtrack and say we are being culturally appropriate and we are being respectful of indigenous people by saying no headdresses,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd that is a good start, but the fans are still operating as if it is an indigenous-type atmosphere because you are still called the Chiefs. And you can still do this movement that looks like a tomahawk chop, but we are going to call it a drum beat instead. It is kind of silly. Just change it.鈥�

Fans of the Chiefs long ago adopted the chanting and arm movement symbolizing the brandishing of a tomahawk that began at Florida State University in the 1980s.

鈥淲hen we are down it is a rally cry,鈥� said Kile Chaney, a stone mason from Harrisonville, Missouri. 鈥淛ust to hear all the fans doing the tomahawk chop and hear it echo through the corridors, it is a beautiful noise that we make here.鈥�

Aaron Bien, an automotive repair and body shop owner from Hillsdale, Kansas, described it as no different than any cheer.

鈥淚t is the soul. It is the lifeblood,鈥� said Mr. Bien, who had been a Chiefs season ticket holder for 15 years before the pandemic limited seating capacity in the stadium this season.

He said the chop has 鈥渘othing to do with Native Americans,鈥� noting that the origin of the Chiefs nickname may have more to do with the mayor who helped lure the franchise from Dallas in 1963.

Mayor H. Roe Bartle was a large man known as 鈥淭he Chief鈥� for his many years of leadership in the Boy Scouts. Team owner Lamar Hunt reportedly named the team the Chiefs in honor of Mr. Bartle.

Vincent Schilling, associate editor of Indian Country Today, said that doesn鈥檛 make it any better. He noted that, though Mr. Bartle was white, he started a Scouting society called the 鈥淢ic-O-Say Tribe,鈥� which remains active and continues to use Native American attire and language. Young participants are 鈥渂raves,鈥� and the top leader is the 鈥渃hief.鈥�

鈥淗e was called Chief because he played Indian and falsely taught Boy Scouts how to dress up as Native Americans,鈥� said Mr. Schilling, a member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. 鈥淓veryone dressed up like Indians going to those games, perpetuating a horrible cultural stereotype for decades.鈥�

He called the changes the team has made to the chop 鈥渋nsulting鈥� and 鈥渁 preposterous gesture with a lack of cultural responsibility.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writer Dave Skretta contributed.