Time’s up for the Creemore Braves
Editor:
Have you ever noticed the discomfort, denial, and defensiveness that gets triggered when white people are confronted with their racial biases?
We tend to get our hackles up, don’t we? We experience anger, fear, and sometimes we react with just… silence. There is a term for this – “White Fragility” – and it serves only to derail meaningful discussion about social justice problems and ways to solve them. As I have come to learn, racial bias is a spectrum, and we are all on it somewhere. We need to recognize this and reflect on ways to improve our thinking, our choices, and our actions.
I wonder, Creemore… can we engage in meaningful discussion about a social justice issue in our community, or will this letter activate our White Fragility? Because we have a problem… and it is the “Creemore Braves.”
From a white person’s perspective, the word “brave” seems a great attribute for someone to have. On the Creemore Braves Facebook page, the banner declares that “brave” is an adjective that means “possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance.” Sounds good… except the word as it is used in the phrase “Creemore Braves” is a noun.
“Brave” as a noun has been used to refer to Indigenous men in thousands of books, TV shows, movies, and sports teams for a long, long time. So, why are we white people surprised to learn that Indigenous people consider the word “brave” offensive and derogatory when used this way? And, how did the word “brave” become associated with Indigenous men in the first place?
The word “brave” first appeared in the English language in the 1400s. Its origin is the word barabus (barbarous) from Latin, meaning foreign, strange, savagely cruel, exceedingly brutal. Over time, the word linked with the Spanish word bravo—meaning wild, rough, fierce, untamed, savage. So, when white people began referring to Indigenous warriors in North America as “braves” hundreds of years ago, were those meanings in the backs of their minds? I think we know the answer.
The word “braves” used by the Creemore baseball team is offensive because it is a descriptor of Indigenous men as “noble, courageous savages.” This is hurtful in ways that white people have difficulty understanding because we are not on the receiving end. It reduces Indigenous men to cultural stereotypes. The Creemore Braves associates itself to this racial stereotype not only through its name, but through its iconography.
On its helmets, uniform shoulder patches, its website, and its Facebook page you will find their logo of two crossed, red tomahawks. This is an appropriated symbol from a marginalized culture, and in using that motif, we do not honor Indigenous people; we mock them.
The colour of the tomahawks is red which has long been symbolic of blood, but of course, it is symbolic of a skin colour – which brings us to the horribly racist mascot, “Chief Wahoo”.
This notorious, red-skinned mascot with its big nose and leering grin was used by the Cleveland Indians from 1947 to the end of the 2018 season. It has been officially retired by that team (and they are still trying to figure out what to do with their name). “Chief Wahoo” can be found on the Creemore Braves website – on the pennants celebrating their victories over the years. It also appears on the “Home of the Braves” sign in Gowan Memorial Park. (Editor’s Note: The sign has since been removed.)
Perhaps some members of the community are getting angry with me now, their blood beginning to boil with defensiveness—that’s White Fragility activating. Some might also be thinking: Who cares? There are no Indigenous people around here to offend.
You would be wrong. Why? Because it is a sad and sobering fact that many Indigenous people (and their children) choose not to publicly identify due to the discrimination that they will inevitably face if they do.
Some people reading this might think that I am advocating for the erasure of the village’s history or the tearing down of a proud team’s legacy.
I am not.
History is not fixed and carved in stone. It is not forever. History changes with new evidence and facts and which lens you choose to view it. Looking at the team’s name and its iconography now with an informed, 21st Century lens brings the incorrectness of it into sharp focus.
The Simcoe County District School Board encourages its students to acknowledge that we are situated on the traditional land of the Anishnaabeg people and accept the enduring presence of Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit people on this land. Students commit themselves to moving forward in the spirit of reconciliation and respect. They learn about the horrors of the Canadian residential school system and the incalculable pain and destruction it has caused to Indigenous peoples… and then in the summer they go play for a baseball team called the Creemore Braves and wear a uniform with tomahawks on it.
It is time for us as a community to recognize this mistake, take initiative, and fix it. Other communities have done so. In 2017, the Midland Indians (another North Dufferin Baseball League team) recognized that it was time for their team name to go – along with their “Chief Wahoo” mascot. Midland set up a GoFundMe page and by the beginning of the 2018 season they had successfully rebranded to the Midland Mariners and had new uniforms.
Creemore has a rich history to draw upon for rebranding but it will cost money to change the name of the Braves, its logos, its uniform patches, etc. These are things that a community can help solve, but only if it has the collective will to do so – and only when the leadership within the Creemore Braves organization recognizes the problem and chooses to do something about it.
If we do not fix this now, Creemore must acknowledge and understand what the team name, tomahawk logo, and Chief Wahoo says about us – every time they appear on a uniform, in a newspaper, online, or on a sign in a park.
A seismic shift in thinking about racism has occurred and there is a clock ticking now on the Creemore Braves. We can make the change now and turn the rebranding into a positive step forward, or we can look the other way and remain silent, until we finally make the change as one of the very last, disbelieving and defensive communities still clinging to the remnants of its White Fragility.
Christopher Dodd,
Mulmur
In regards to the writren opinion “Time’s up for the Creemore Braves” I’m wondering what if any dialogue has been had with the team and its management. There’s a number of assumptions and accusations in this article that seem pretty generic in my opinion. While I agree history may not be “set in stone” it wasn’t written in pencil either. These team names for many represent decades of hard work community involvement and success in sport. Having lived, grown up and played sports my entire youth and teenage years in Creemore and proudly worn uniforms of the Braves, Barons and the Chiefs I can assure you at no time were these team names meant to mock anyone in fact quite the opposite. If we are to move forward and create better history I’m convinced that will be done through meaningful dialogue as opposed to calling people out in the media and on social platforms as this article seems to do. I have also had the privilege to know and grow up with the men who now run this organization and I can say with confidence they represent some of the best to ever be involved with the Village of Creemore. In regards to the team name I believe we should be understanding of the changes in the world and I know that as we continue to be better as a society we must listen to one another and learn and quite frankly be open to change and other people’s perspectives. Mr. Dodd I don’t care for your article in its current context and not because of the subject matter. In fact the subject matter provides a great opportunity to engage in discussion and perhaps learning. What concerns me about the article is the missed opportunity created by it. I’m sure the team name that obviously offends you could be a great opportunity and topic of discussion, sadly the opportunity seems a little clouded now after your article has called people out without at least having some discussions first. Maybe there’s a path to changing the name while preserving the rich history and good connected to these teams in the community, but one thing I am sure of and that’s no good comes from starting off by taking an adversarial tone in an opinion piece. Good luck.
Hi Greg, nice to hear from you! We played hockey together back in the day. Do you remember me? We played alongside Steve Walker in the Creemore Minor Hockey League. I was an assistant captain (at times). You make some good points in your response. You might be interested to know that I did in fact reach out to the leadership of the Creemore Braves before my opinion piece was published. They received three emails from me and all of them went unacknowledged. A fair interpretation of that non-response (at the time) was a lack of interest to discuss the central issues. It seems that you interpret what I wrote as a personal attack against specific people. It is not. I would like you to notice that no names were mentioned in the opinion piece. It is simply a critical analysis of an organization’s unfortunate use of a problematic name and associated indigenous iconography. Also, I would like to point out that the current leadership did not invent the Creemore Braves name so I do not hold them responsible entirely. It is a rebirth of a historical Creemore baseball team name from long ago. In that context, we all own the problem. That is why I constantly use the word “we” in the article. Creemore owns this problem as a community. There is no doubt in my mind that the good people who run the Creemore Braves teams are passionate about the sport and their dedication to providing community sports opportunities is not in question. We need more people like them in the community. Those points aside, there is still an unacknowledged problem that I hope will be fixed someday soon. All the best, and cheers!
We live in a new age , one where we must be aware of the differences between all peoples. Including Indigenous peoples and immigrating foreigners from all parts of the world.
I would ask that as one of the members of the Georgian Triangle area that we show our children leadership at all levels .
I watched a skit of Russell Peters where he indicated “ white people , you might as well face facts, sooner on later you’re all going to be brown”. He is correct, as immigration changes the population of Canada , we are seeing more and more people of colour come to Canada , integrate into society and marry into white families. I personally believe this is Canadian history in the making.
Canada is a beautiful country, let us celebrate individual differences, and let’s remember that we can live in peace in Canada , if we want to !
The phrase “ Gypsy Moth “. Was changed, surely we can make modifications to the Creemore team uniform .
Respectfully