They are resolutions which represent the views of the community and are issued by Tribal Councils as formal statements from sovereign governments, official acts of diplomacy and entreaties for support. The statements from Native Leadership and Tribal Nations are not similar to corporate or political PR statements, but come from following cultural protocols of community consensus. Suffers from Collective Amnesia About Its Original Sin However, this is not trivial - it is dangerous, and has direct consequences on Native lives. It is understandable that rabbis and other prominent Jewish leaders could be reluctant to take a firm position on something that seems so trivial as the name of a sports team, cartoonish imagery, foam toys and a nonsense crowd chant. That investment in both domestic peace and the health of Tribal Nations can allow those communities to evolve into their own visions of what it means for them to be contextualized in modern global society. Rather than destroying a team’s traditions, Jews - who know all too well the dangers of stereotypes - can take part in transforming a destructive pop culture phenomenon into one that is healthy and positive.
We cannot tolerate visible misrepresentation that leads to discrimination if we reject this for ourselves, and we cannot expect our Native sisters and brothers, let alone those who are also Jewish, to shoulder the burdens of resolving this alone. Such dehumanization is an existential threat to American society. This dehumanization is something that Jews, who see antisemitic representations of ourselves time and again used to justify the murder of our people, should be especially concerned by. At best, this portrayal can be viewed as an assertion of dominance while at worse it is dogwhistling a celebration of genocide.
These stereotypes are twisted representations of what our most courageous protectors had to do to preserve our lives and cultures against invaders with agendas of extermination, land theft and cultural devastation. When Natives are portrayed as warlike, others forget that we are an oppressed minority - and instead see us as a threat. These representations also affect how other Americans see us. But extensive studies also show the negative psychological impacts of mascotization on Native Youth, and this portrayal contributes to how Americans see themselves. Our Health outcomes are a reflection of harmful federal policies, including chronic underfunding of the Indian Health Services, that have left 1 in 3 Natives living in dire poverty. The suicide rate for Native Americans has climbed by a distressing 139% for women and 71% for men since 1990, according to an early 2020 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Native Americans experience significantly higher rates of depression, substance abuse, suicide and suicidal behaviors than other populations do. Portrayals of Natives and Tribal Nations affect how Americans approach policy, honor treaty responsibilities and disperse federal resources - including those that affect both individual and population health. The story of the Braves today might not sound connected, but it is.
Tribal populations have yet to reach levels they were prior to this violence, and both under-resourcing and continuous displacement affects Tribes to this day. The scale of human loss for Tribal Nations is rarely addressed. In populations with oral histories, this also represents the irreplaceable losses of culture, history and traditional forms of leadership that are critical to the continuation of a people.
The Tribes whose traditional territories constitute what is now the State of Georgia were horrifically and painfully displaced by the intense violence of the Trail of Tears and other injustices that led to the deaths of thousands. The Braves baseball franchise’s name originated in Boston, then moved to Milwaukee, and finally to Georgia, where ironically there are no Federally Recognized tribes.
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