I do not know who to write this to so I am just sending this in general, I hope it finds the right person. I would like to comment directly to whoever is responsible for this article. I would imagine The Plain Dealer will be getting a lot of these comments and I would like to know the ratio of people pro having chief wahoo retired versus people pro having him stay and displayed, not just your poll that is on your website, which when I voted was greatly pro keeping Chief Wahoo.
What I mean is, how many people took the time (like myself) to write a full letter, not just vote.
Another survey I would like to see done (which should have been done by your paper prior to writing this article) is upon the people who it really should matter the most, the Native Americans. I would like to see exactly what their opinion of the logo is.
This survey should be done by people who categorize themselves as Native American and not those who simply have 1% Native American blood in them. Those are the people whose opinion matters concerning this article, not The Plain Dealer's.
Secondly, if the Plain Dealer's stance is that Chief Wahoo should not be displayed again, why does it still display Chief Wahoo on its website (and, presumably, its newspapers)? If I were to go to this website, I am immediately confronted with Chief Wahoo. Or, if I go to this website, I again am immediately confronted with a "picture of the day" that shows a lady wearing a Chief Wahoo shirt.
If your paper cares so much, how come it is still displaying and posting photos of Chief Wahoo? You could have chosen a different picture, but you didn't.
Lastly, why are you picking only on two organizations, mainly the Cleveland Indians? If you really felt this is a problem, why don’t you call out other organizations, big or small? What I mean is, why don’t you call out high school teams from around Ohio and the United States. Just off the top of my head, in my county, I can think of two schools that consider a Native American their team's logo/symbol. Why don’t you call them out and demand them to change their logo? Why so selective?
Or why stop there? Why not go after the Pittsburgh Pirates. Maybe someone in their family's history was captured by pirates and they find the propping up of a pirate as a logo offensive. Additionally, there are still pirates currently that do bad deeds onto people, capturing them and holding them for ransom. So why don’t you call out the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
Political correctness and the branches of it are hurting this country. In choosing Chief Wahoo, the Cleveland Indians did not mean to hurt anyone, and neither did any other team that chose a person, animal or group of this nature as their logo/symbol. I’m sorry if in some way it does hurt people, but I wonder if it only hurts people because of people who constantly point it out and give them the impression that it's condescending rather than an honor. People that pick out and point out topics like this could very well be doing more harm than they are good.
In my opinion, you are creating an illusion of a problem in people’s minds. This illusion can create a divide that possibly was never there to begin with. Again, to those who truly did have a problem with it from day one, I’m sorry. But to everyone else, it should be seen as an honor, a sign of power. That’s one of the reasons teams chose whatever as a logo. I would be honored to have a team named after me, even if the logo was goofy. If the Plain Dealer's stance still is that Chief Wahoo is bad, then maybe they should fairly go after every team and stop being hypocritical by still displaying him on their site/papers.