Problem with ‘Arrowhead Chop’ isn’t political correctness. It’s about human dignity
A self-described lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fan once asked me the meaning of the words to the song that the crowds sing as they perform the “Arrowhead Chop” at Kansas City Chiefs games.
“They don’t mean anything,” I heard my voice telling him, feeling disgusted and annoyed. He replied, “Really, nothing at all?” My face got hot and I could feel my heart beating fast in my chest as I answered again: “Nothing.”
These are the uncomfortable situations I deal with as an Acoma Pueblo woman living in the Kansas City area.
As an educator, I have done many presentations on the misconceptions about Native American people and the terrible stereotypes that are reinforced by sport mascots that use Native imagery. It is getting exhausting. And every single time it is traumatic, going over the massacres, racism and genocide carried out against the people indigenous to this country.
This is the unsanitized truth about American history you were never taught in school. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” author L. Frank Baum called for the wholesale slaughter of Natives — a true genocide — in an editorial for the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer after the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, which killed some 300 men, women and children.
Baum wrote: “The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.”
The historical traumas Native Americans face have manifested through loss of our people and the loss of our land. And while we have been told by the dominant society to “get over it” and to assimilate, all we Native people want to do is remember and honor those who gave their lives so we could be here.
Did I tell you how hard October and November are for Native people? We are bombarded with ridiculous Pocahontas costumes. The last couple of years have only become worse.
One makeup artist posted on Instagram her creation of a woman in “war paint,” depicting a bullet wound in her chest. Another Instagram post featured a man dressed up as a brave with an arrow in his eye. Ladies and gentlemen, the latest Halloween costume: the Dead Indian.
I met a man who was a member of the Boy Scouts of America’s Tribe of Mic-o-Say, whose members dress up as Native Americans and do powwow dances. The group was founded by H. Roe Bartle, a white man whose Scout moniker “Chief” gave the Kansas City football team its name.
The man I spoke to was a military veteran. He refused to believe that his dressing up as a Native American is cultural appropriation, instead saying the clothing and dances “honor” Native Americans by continuing their traditions.
I asked him how he he feels about people who pretend to be veterans when they are not. That is what the Native headdress equates to: Chiefs went to battle and earned it, much like the medals military veterans earn. He refused to see the correlation.
Think about your education about Native Americans in our school system. Was it adequate? Did you learn stereotypes? Was it sanitized for easy consumption?
I only hope people will understand this is not about being politically correct. It is about understanding the horrible history our ancestors were subjected to and the policies enacted by the U.S. government to erase our Native identity.
Maybe it is time to start a new tradition of treating all people as human beings and respecting their wishes.
Rhonda LeValdo teaches media communications at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.
This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 5:02 AM with the headline "Problem with ‘Arrowhead Chop’ isn’t political correctness. It’s about human dignity."