With Indians Changing Name Are Braves Next?

For some time now there has been discussion over the Native American names in sports and whether they should be changed. The Atlanta Braves could be next.

The Atlanta Braves, like other sports franchises with Native American mascots and team names, have been under heavy scrutiny for the last several years.

We saw it hit closest to home during the 2019 postseason when a St. Louis Cardinals player, who is a Native American, made a comment about the Tomahawk Chop.

Since then the Atlanta Braves have been hesitant to use the chant and didn’t pass out tomahawks for Game 5 of that NLDS.

Several have commented on the fact that any reference to the tomahawk has been removed from around Truist Park.

Obvioulsy, with fans not in attendance during 2020 it kind of gave Atlanta more time to think about — or rather avoid it — for a little longer.

It certainly didn’t stop Braves fans as they could be heard doing the tomahawk chop outside of the stadium.

But I think the promotion of that has certainly come to an end for the franchise. I would not be surprised at all if they don’t support the tomahawk chop in the stadium once fans return.

However, if you go to the team store the tomahawk is still in a lot of the merchandise.

Moving on from that, though, with the Cleveland franchise deciding to change their name from ‘Indians,’ I’m sure there will be some added pressure on Atlanta to change their name.

I personally don’t feel it’s necessary as the term ‘Brave’ is something complementary and holds great historical value and pride among Native Americans.

It’s not like the ‘Redskins,’ which was highly offensive to many Native Americans.

The name Braves is something of respect and calls attention to the history of that culture.

But then again, I’m not Native American, so I can’t really speak on the matter of whether or not it’s offensive.

With fans coming back to the stands (hopefully) in 2021 this is a conversation that will not go away and will only get louder. We’ll see how the Braves choose to handle it going forward with Cleveland finally pulling the trigger on their team name.