Cleveland Indians owner Paul Dolan said Monday an “awakening or epiphany” after the death of George Floyd was a part of the reason why the team name will eventually change.
Fox News reported that the organization had announced it officially started the process of changing the team’s name but it will likely stay as the Indians through the 2021 season.
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Dolan told the Associated Press in an interview that he “empathizes” with fans who don’t want the name altered.
Cleveland has been known as the Indians since 1915.
“I fully understand it. I consider myself a fifth-generation Clevelander. It’s in our blood and baseball and the Indians are synonymous, and that goes to the whole intent versus impact thing. Nobody intended anything negative by our attachment to the name Indians, but the impact has been tough,” he said.
In a statement attributed to Dolan, he said that he talked to Native American and local leaders about the name.
Statement from the organization.https://t.co/IHa68yEQGA pic.twitter.com/gGS6xutSOy
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) December 14, 2020
“Hearing firsthand the stories and experiences of Native American people, we gained a deep understanding of how tribal communities feel about the team name and the detrimental effects it has on them. We also spoke to local civic leaders who represent diverse populations in our city and who highlighted the negative impact our team name has had on our broader population and on under-represented groups across our community,” Dolan said.
“I am truly grateful for their engagement and input, which I found enlightening and insightful. When a sports team is aligned with its community, it unlocks the ability to unite people from different backgrounds and bring people together in support of their home team. While Indians will always be a part of our history, it is time to move forward and work to unify our stakeholders and fans through a new name.”
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Dolan’s family had owned the Indians for 20 years but said that after the 2020 summer of unrest, he began to educate himself.
“There is definitely some pain in this. It’s the end of an era or the beginning of an era. But accompanying that is the recognition and maybe even excitement that we’re going on to do something that is better. It will be better for the community. It will be better for our team. And it will be something hopefully that unites everybody. It’s not anything that we have to feel any kind of reluctance about expressing,” he said.
“It’s going to take some time for everybody to embrace but I think when they do, we’ll all be better off for it.”
President Trump called the decision “cancel culture at work!”
Oh no! What is going on? This is not good news, even for “Indians”. Cancel culture at work! https://t.co/d1l0C9g6Pd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020
The NFL’s Washington Football Team dropped the “Redskins” from their name after years of pushback. The Indians, who already removed Chief Wahoo as their logo, said in July they would consider changing the name.
