Cleveland – Cleveland Indians are changing their name – they do not know what or when.
Owner Paul Dolan, who revealed that “this is the time”, said that after months of domestic discussions and meetings with groups, many American racists who tried to stop the use of a group, including Native Americans, dropped the American League right after 1915.
In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press on Monday, Dolan said: “This name is no longer accepted in our world.”
Dolan said the team will continue to be called Indians until a new name is chosen.
That “multi-stage” process is in its infancy and the team will play as Indians next season – and will be branded.
“We will be Indians in 2021, after which it will be a difficult and complicated process to find a new name and do everything you can to implement that name,” Dolan said. “We’re going to work as fast as we can when we do it right.
“But we’m not going to do anything just to do it. We ‘re going to take the time to do it right.”
Dolan said the team will not accept the interim name until it chooses its new name.
“We don’t want to be a Cleveland baseball team or some other interim name,” he said. “We will continue to be Indians until we recognize the next name, which will carry us for centuries.”
Cleveland’s move from the Indians follows a similar decision by the NFL’s Washington football team earlier this year, formerly known as the Redskins.
“It was a learning process for me, and I like to think that when reasonable-minded, open-minded people really look at it, think about it, and spend some time reading it, they will come to the same conclusion: it was a name that had its time, but it Now is not the time, of course, going forward, this name is no longer accepted in our world, “Dolan said.
Considering the Cleveland options, Dolan said the name Tripe, which has been the club’s popular nickname for decades, was rejected.
“We are not going to go a half foot away from the Indians,” he said. “The new name, I do not know what it is, would not be a name with Native American themes or its meanings. Obviously, that (tribe) would have been a name I wanted to highlight.
“But when talking to these groups, they made it very clear that the issues associated with the Indians do not go away with the tribes, especially since the tribes have been tied to our team’s experience for decades,” he said. .
In the wake of widespread civil rights struggles last summer, the name change of Indians to an organization that reacted to a national movement that removed impartial names and symbols was recent.
In the south, civil war monuments were removed, and in some cases the names of buildings were removed.
Dolan said his “awakening or epiphany” came following the death of a black man named George Floyd who died when he was arrested by White Minneapolis police officers this summer.
With a section of Cleveland fans he will be dissatisfied with the decision.
“I fully understand it,” he said of the expected setback. “I consider it the fifth generation Clevelander. It’s in our blood and baseball. Indians are synonymous. It fits the whole purpose and impact. No one was looking at anything negative by our association with the name Indians, but the impact was severe.”
Under pressure from corporate sponsors, Washington dropped the name Redskins in July.
It was only a few hours later that Dolan announced a full review of the team’s name. He promised to listen and learn, and in recent months has focused on Native American culture and issues during discussions with fans, business leaders, players, social activists and researchers.
Dolan called those conversations “enlightening and challenging.”
He said there is a subtle balance between moving forward and looking back.
“We are going to respect our past,” he said. “We have not moved away from our past. We will be the Cleveland Indians of 1915. We will eventually change any year. We will always celebrate it. I do not think we should ignore it.
“But from the day we create change, the new history we create together as a community with our team will be under a different name banner.”
Cleveland’s name change comes in 2019 with the removal of the controversial chief Wahu logo from its hats and jerseys.
Dolan said the group has never stopped selling products that bear a smiling, cartoonish image, but that the profits from the sale of Wahoo products in the future will go to Native American organizations or support Native Americans.
Dolan’s family bought the Indians in 2000, after which he knew Chief Wahoo was “complicated”. He recognized the Indians in the same light after this summer of unrest and in training himself on Native American issues.
“There are definitely some pains in this. It’s the end of an era or the beginning of an era. But with that comes the recognition and the excitement that we’re going to do better. It’s a better community. It’s better for our team. And it’s a hope that unites everyone. We do not consider it necessary to comment on such fabrications. “
“It takes a while for everyone to warm up, but when they do, I think we’ll all be better off with it.”