Braves could move on from Tomahawk Chop, won’t change team name

The Atlanta Braves may be moving away from the Tomahawk Chop chant.

The Atlanta Braves won’t change their name, but the Tomahawk Chop might be going away.

The southeastern MLB franchise gained popularity during the superstation days of TBS under former owner Ted Turner. They rose to prominence as the “Team of the ’90s”, winning five National League Pennants and the 1995 World Series. In 1991, when the team went worst-to-first, the Tomahawk Chop first made its way to Georgia. After nearly 30 years, it’s on the way out.

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, “the Braves are discussing their use of the Tomahawk Chop, but not their name.” The team moniker implies Native Americans as strictly battle warriors and not taking into account the other cultural aspects of individual tribes. The Tomahawk Chop, which was brought to Atlanta by Deion Sanders in 1991, imitates the chopping motion of an ax.

Keep in mind Sanders brought this to Atlanta, as his alma mater in the Florida State Seminoles did this chant at football games. The NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs also employ the same chant as part of their in-crowd atmosphere. While the Braves’ name and the Tomahawk Chop are both controversial, it’ll be interesting to see what the Atlanta big league club goes about doing here.

Will the Tomahawk Chop be a thing of the past at Atlanta Braves’ games?

As a child of the Team of the ’90s, the Tomahawk Chop is very much a part of my childhood. The Braves were the first team I ever fell in love with. I pretty much wore a Braves ball cap every day of my life from two-to-six years old. The amount of foam tomahawks I made my mom and dad purchase for me at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and later Turner Field makes me blush.

However, I am one-sixteenth Cherokee on my mom’s side of the family. Whatever fraction it is to not get a college scholarship, that would be my younger sister and I. As kids from the northwest suburbs, we never really thought of the Tomahawk Chop as offensive. It was seen as something cool to do during down time in action. Plus, Deion brought it to The ATL and us ATLiens love him.

Naturally, the Braves have had to make some changes to their organization to be less racially insensitive. Back when the team was festering hot garbage in the 1970s and 1980s, some dude dressed up as Chief Knockahoma, hung out in his teepee in the outfield and banged on his war drum. I’m too young to remember that, but yeah, that definitely was a thing, and it wasn’t great.

While the Tomahawk Chop is offensive in the eyes of the Cherokee Nation and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Braves being owned by an out-of-town corporation in Liberty Media hasn’t exactly sped up the pace of considering removing the Tomahawk Chop all together. If it is removed, there will be a void, but it’s not like it’s been a part of the franchise’s history for over 100 years.

As for changing the name, the moniker can stay, as it can go pro-military (Home of the Brave), with Stars and Stripes replacing tomahawks. The color scheme is already the incredibly patriotic combination of red, white and blue. In a way, the Chiefs could attempt the same with Commander-in-Chief. The Golden State Warriors dropped their Native American attachment decades ago.

While the name isn’t as offensive as, say, the NFL’s Washington Redskins or the MLB’s Cleveland Indians, it is still offensive to some people. Though I don’t personally want my favorite baseball club to change its name, it push comes to shove and a new nickname is inevitably coming, I’ll still support my hometown team until the day I die. If we’re the Atlanta Bananas, so be it!

If you stop being an Atlanta fan because of a name change or battle cry, then that’s a you problem.