Native Americans demand that Super Bowl teams be renamed.

A group of Native Americans is expected to protest the Kansas City Chiefs football team and demand that the team’s name and logo be removed when the team plays Super Bowl 57 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Chiefs sport arrowhead logos on their helmets and use big drums to kick off home games. Fans regularly chant what is known as the “Tomahawk Chop”. Critics say it’s all based on offensive and racist stereotypes.

This is the third NFL title fight in four years, and Kansas City fans can be heard chant “Tomahawk Chop” all over Phoenix. This contrasts with the display of native American culture and pride that Super Bowl organizers invited to attend in the days leading up to the game. It will be Monday afternoon NZ time.

Dancers from Indigenous companies perform at the opening night festival on Monday, becoming the first Native Americans to perform at the annual media mega event.

In a bizarre juxtaposition, they took the stage just minutes after the Kansas City fans who were in attendance at Footprint Center thundered the “Tomahawk Chop” chant together.

“It’s great what the NFL is doing in Phoenix by bringing in Indigenous dancers and artists to celebrate the authentic,” said artist, community organizer and member of the Gila River community. Cher Thomas said. She will be among those protesting outside the game.

“However, the NFL is simultaneously condoning Kansas City teams and their names and nicknames, as well as their derogatory traditions.”

The NFL did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Chiefs supporter Benny Blaze, 55, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, praised his team for “sticking to their guns” as they stood in Old Town Scottsdale.Arts and Crafts of America.

“I can’t say anything right now because it will offend 1% to 2% of Americans,” he said.

Scottsdale is directly adjacent to the Salt River Maricopa Indian Community of over 7,000 residents, one of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes.

On Sunday’s pre-show, Navajo Colin Denny will provide a North American Indian sign language interpreter as singer Babyface performs “America the Beautiful.”

Chiefs fans are almost certain to roar “Tomahawk chops” in the minutes before kickoff, just as they did before games in their two previous Super Bowl appearances.

The Chiefs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Super Bowl host committee partners Ak Chin Indian Community, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and Tohono Oddam Nation did not respond to multiple requests for information. Gila River, another partner in his Indian community, did not make leadership available.

This isn’t the first time the Chiefs’ name and heritage have come under fire.

In 2019, the Kansas City Star called for an end to chanting and chopping hand gestures.

Months later, in the days before the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers, the team told Reuters over the past six years that it had “a group of individuals with diverse Native American backgrounds and experiences. We had a meaningful discussion,” he said.

But even though the Washington Redskins dropped their nickname in July 2020 in the reckoning of a national race driven by the Black Lives Matter movement, their name and much of their heritage remained intact. . Racist slurs with commanders.

A month later, the Chiefs announced they would ban the wearing of headdresses at Arrowhead Stadium, with the words “End Racism” painted in the end zone and on helmets in agreement with racial justice decorated.

“They’re using the #EndRacism hashtag on their helmets, and it’s jarring,” said Rhonda LeValdo, an Acoma Pueblo journalist who founded the Not in our Honor coalition in 2005. Advocated against the use of American images.

“I don’t even understand what you guys are saying. You guys have the Chiefs logo and you’re doing the chops.”

– Reuters