How Far Have We Come?

As of today, many schools have changed their names and logos. To name a few, Miami of Ohio has become the Red Hawks, replacing the Redskins; the Illinois Fighting Illini changed their official logo from a representation of Chief Illiniwek to a Block "I" with Illinois spelled across it; and Marquette University changed it's name from the Warriors to the Golden Eagles. The one thing to point out though is that these teams are all schools. Universities, colleges, high schools, and middle schools all across the country have put in effort to show respect to the Native American Tribes across the country. Unfortunately, there has been little to no response by professional teams. The Atlanta Braves, Washington Redskins, and Cleveland Indians still exist, to name a few. The Indians have made the closest to what you might call "a change" in that they instituted an "alternate logo" which is a script "I". Joe Gibbs, a former coach of the Washington Redskins, also tried to push the script "R" logo for the Redskins while he manned the sidelines, as opposed to their normal logo, the profile of a Native American.

You may wonder why they are being held back from changing. It all comes down to money. Between licensing agreements, and having strong ties with recognizable logos, a team re-branding itself can be brutal to the franchise. The Cleveland Indians made an attempt, but the fact that they have a grinning, large nosed, red-skinned Native American on their hats everyday is not necessarily enough progress if you ask me.