Faith and Values: Spokane Indians baseball, tribal partnership shows right way to honor Indigenous people

As discussions on race dominated the summer throughout the United States and provided Native Americans with a platform to let their voices be heard, racism in sports teams’ names and imagery was brought to the forefront again with the controversial name of the Washington Redskins football team .

The team announcing in July that it will temporarily change its name to the Washington Football Team, and other teams across the U.S. potentially following suit, marks a change in behavior toward representation of Native Americans in sports. Even though the team’s new name feels like a missed opportunity, other teams could follow in the footsteps of the Spokane Indians baseball club, which collaborated with the Spokane Tribe of Indians to reshape their team into one that used the tribe’s culture in an accurate way and encouraged people to learn more about it.

Team president Chris Duff told me in 2018 how they have had a strong relationship with the Spokane Tribe, and in 2006 worked together to use Native American imagery in a positive way and created a new logo for the team. Duff said they used the eagle feather in the primary logo because of its importance to the tribe, as well as incorporating Salish, the tribe’s language, into the logo on their caps.

Initially, the team was considering not using any Native American imagery when they approached the Spokane Tribe in 2006, but the tribe said they approved of the team name and supported the team, which resulted in them collaborating to incorporate tribal imagery without resorting to stereotypes.

Not only that, they incorporated Salish into their jerseys in 2014 and have signage and other aspects of their stadium in the language, in order to immerse people into the tribe’s culture and world. Duff also told me that they prepared cards telling the story of how the team worked with the tribe to come up with the idea and draw attention to the language.

In a New York Times article last month, Carol Evans, chairwoman of the Spokane Tribal Council, described how the team listened to the elders, and that the relationship between the team and the tribe has grown as a family partnership unit.

The fact that the Spokane Indians baseball club took the opportunity to collaborate with the Spokane tribe, and educate people about its culture, shows that sports teams can use Native American imagery and culture to teach people about the diverse tribes across the U.S., dispel stereotypes and potentially help revitalize Indigenous languages that continue to lose fluent speakers every year.

Sports teams should go about this by communicating with local tribes on a regular basis, and use the feedback given to ensure that they are not perpetuating stereotypes or portraying their cultures inaccurately.

There are people who still perceive Native Americans as stereotypes, and by changing how they are portrayed in sports, it could spark a movement that could eventually annihilate the stereotypes and stop people from viewing Native Americans through outdated and inaccurate lenses. Racist names such as “redskins,” and use of headdresses and mascots, should be removed and replaced with what the tribes view as culturally accurate and appropriate imagery.

By following in the example set by the Spokane Indians baseball club, teams across the U.S. can rid sports of the dehumanizing imagery of Native Americans that has plagued them for so long and shine a spotlight on the diverse Indigenous cultures that have been left in the darkness.

Matthew Kincanon is a journalist with a journalism and political science degree from Gonzaga University.