A group of Native American activists are not going to stop until the Kansas City Chiefs change their name.
Activist Rhonda LeValdo is one of the individuals leading the fight to see the use of Native American imagery and references in sports come to an end. She is the founder of a Kansas City-based group called Not In Our Honor.
The group was out in Las Vegas protesting before Super Bowl LVIII to not only fight over that change but also to do away with the Tomahawk Chop.
“I’ve spent so much of my personal time and money on this issue. I really hoped that our kids wouldn’t have to deal with this,” LeValdo said. “But here we go again.”
LeValdo, who is Acoma Pueblo, has been in the Kansas City area for more than two decades.
She also has major issues with the NFL for its “End Racism” tag lines on a team that has a name that disrespects her people.
“We were like, ‘Wow, you guys put this on the helmets and on the field, but look at your name and what you guys are doing,'” LeValdo said. “We weren’t even allowed to be Native American. We weren’t allowed to practice our culture. We weren’t allowed to wear our clothes. But it’s OK for Kansas City fans to bang a drum, to wear a headdress and then to act like they’re honoring us? That doesn’t make sense.”
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Some sports teams have argued their mascots are intended to honor and respect the tribes but Not In Our Honor does not see it that way.
Back in 2021, the then-Cleveland Indians baseball team changed its name to the Guardians. The team also stopped using its Chief Wahoo mascot.
The 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis finally led to the Washington Redskins to drop its nickname and have since become the Commanders.
