December 28, 2012

Atlanta Brings Back Racist "Screaming Savage" Logo

The Atlanta Braves have changed their batting practice caps for next season, getting rid of the "A" and bringing back the "screaming savage" logo that the organization debuted nearly 60 years ago.


The "screaming savage" logo first appeared in 1954 (when the team was based in Milwaukee). Various strories report that Atlanta has not used the logo since 1989.

Last year, when the team wore 1966 replica jerseys, they seemed to understand the logo belonged to an ignorant past. The Screaming Savage was replaced on the sleeve by two crossed tomahawks.

Paul Lucas (Uni Watch) offers a preview of all 30 teams' batting practice caps.
The re-emergence of the questionable logo is surprising given that the Cleveland Indians have been distancing themselves from Chief Wahoo in recent years. (This year's Indians BP cap features the increasingly familiar block 'C'.)
Timothy Rapp, Bleacher Report:
What in the world are the Atlanta Braves thinking? ...

Maybe somebody in the team's marketing department incorrectly surmised that the city of Atlanta loves stereotypical depictions of entire races of people.

Perhaps ownership was sick and tired of the Washington Redskins and their culturally insensitive name remaining the most offensive rendition of Native American culture in this country.
Tom Ley, Deadspin:
That's the old Chief Noc-A-Homa—get it?—mascot. He is captured here in mid-shriek as he watches either a Braves home run or the forcible uprooting and assimilation of his culture.
I'm dismayed that this idea was actually okayed at even the lowest levels of the Atlanta organization, and shocked that it was green-lighted all the way to the top. With any luck - and after enough people register their disgust (404-522-7630) - the team will come to its senses and toss this shit into the trash bin where it belongs.

10 comments:

FenFan said...

Perhaps ownership was sick and tired of the Washington Redskins and their culturally insensitive name remaining the most offensive rendition of Native American culture in this country.

It continues to perplex me that, in 2012, there is a professional sports team that uses the Redskins moniker.

Why not then the Carolina Negros or the San Francisco Nips?

Makes no sense to me...

laura k said...

Thanks for the phone number!

If I recall correctly, it was my repeated disgust for racist logos and team names that led to a gamethreader going off on me and storming off the blog.

laura k said...

Why not then the Carolina Negros or the San Francisco Nips?

But it wouldn't be Negroes. That is old fashioned but not quite the racist equivalent.

More like this cartoon (scroll down).

johngoldfine said...

http://www.historynet.com/andrew-jackson-and-the-indian-removal-act.htm

Georgia has a long history of discountenancing "Indian braves."

laura k said...

Not peculiar to Georgia, unfortunately.

johngoldfine said...


"Not peculiar to Georgia...."

The state flag of my birth state of Massachusetts somehow manages to feature both a Native American holding an unnocked arrow and the strong right arm of Myles Standish stealthily wielding a sword above the N.A.--and we wonder why USA is schizoid....

Zenslinger said...

The Braves are my third favorite team. I hate this. They can get rid of "The Chop" along with this fucked-up logo.

Anonymous said...

And Boston has such a rich history of racial political correctness? Very rich.

allan said...

That's a pretty tepid strawman, almost boring in its obviousness.

Another city's racial history - any city's racial history, including Atlanta's - has no bearing on whether this cap's image is racist. I would have thought such an idea was blindingly obvious.


laura k said...

And Boston has such a rich history of racial political correctness? Very rich.

It's also pretty obvious you haven't bothered to read this blog. Allan criticizes racism wherever he finds it. He's not an apologist for Boston's history.

But Atlanta and Cleveland's disgusting racist logos are not history - they're in the here and now. How does Boston's past racist decisions change that?