Are you ready for politically correct football?
Via Kansas City Star
The fight is approaching in the distance, and the Chiefs have found a friend. This is smart business, and with the right breaks can be something more important.
The Chiefs play their first preseason game on Thursday, and while the coaches are consumed with things like their left tackle, defensive secondary and depth at receiver, much of the front office has been tackling a different kind of problem. Give them credit for their tactics, too.
In Washington, D.C., the owner of the NFL team there continues a legal battle after the United States Patent and Trademark Office canceled the trademarks of the Redskins. Amanda Blackhorse, the woman behind that case, told The Star in June that the fight would come to the Chiefs soon enough.
Increasingly, the Chiefs are insulating themselves from that fight. It’s similar to the strategy used by the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and the Florida State Seminoles. It’s basically the opposite strategy used by the NFL team in Washington.
“I think we have the same goals,” says John Learned, president and CEO of the American Indian Center of the Great Plains in Kansas City.
“We have an opportunity to re-engage and to understand what it is to respect cultures,” says Gena Timberman, an advisory member of Learned’s group.
This week, Learned (in person) and Timberman (on a conference call) were among those who met with Chiefs president Mark Donovan and senior vice president of business operations Bill Chapin at Arrowhead Stadium.
This was one of two meetings the Chiefs have had in the last 10 days, part of their grander hope to build a bridge with American Indians instead of engaging in a fight. The Chiefs have reached out to several Indian groups, though Blackhorse — who has strong local ties — is a notable exception.
The Chiefs will point to a higher calling in hosting such discussions, and that’s their right. They have an enormous platform, and if they can help educate some of their fans about the cultural significance of things like war paint and war bonnets, or headdresses, then they’ve done some real good.