Celebrated Blackfeet chief John Two Guns White Calf was sacrificed on the altar of cancel tradition.
Now an effort to save lots of the indigenous hero’s legacy in addition to bigger Native historical past from a woke agenda is starting to unfold nationwide.
White Calf was the face of the NFL’s Washington Redskins for 48 years. Before receiving that honor, he was one of the well-known Native Americans of the twentieth century.
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But then his title, picture, achievements — his very existence, actually — had been erased by the politically related National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), headquartered in Washington, D.C.
White Calf was erased from the NFL, too. The Redskins, below mounting stress fueled largely by the NCAI, dumped its White Calf portrait brand in 2020 and adopted the title Commanders in 2021.
Chief John Two Guns White Calf, left, served because the inspiration for the Washington Redskins brand, proper — which represented the NFL franchise on the sector for practically 50 years, from 1972 to 2020. (Getty Images)
“The Redskins were the only minority representation in the entire NFL and it was a real person, not a mascot,” historian Andre Billeaudeaux of San Diego, California, the writer of “How the Redskins Got Their Name,” informed Fox News Digital in an interview.
The NCAI counts amongst its benefactors the George Soros-funded Open Society Foundations. American taxpayers additionally fund the group.
It receives help from seven federal bureaucracies, together with the Department of Defense, in line with its personal web site, as Fox News Digital beforehand reported.
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Beyond the elimination of Native logos and representations in professional sports activities, the NCAI “has tracked the retirement of more than 200 unsanctioned Native ‘themed’ mascots since 2019, and has supported legislation banning the use of these mascots in multiple states,” the group mentioned in a press release final yr to Fox News Digital.
“The Redskins were the only minority representation in the entire NFL and it was a real person, not a mascot.”
Yet “these decisions never have popular support,” mentioned Eunice Davidson, a Dakota Sioux and president of the Native American Guardians Association (NAGA), to Fox News Digital final week.
Many of these photos had been based as much as a century in the past to have fun native Native heritage — and never all had been mascots.
Left, Native American Blackfeet Chief John Two Guns White Calf (1872-1934), is proven shaking palms with A. Aaron of Madras, India, as they met on the Twin Cities for the Rotary Convention, circa 1925. (FPG/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Some — like the person who was the face of the Redskins — had been actual individuals who made a profound impression on America.
Chief White Calf superior Native agenda in D.C.
Even earlier than his face was beamed from NFL soccer fields into hundreds of thousands of American properties every Sunday within the fall, Chief White Calf’s title and picture had been acquainted to individuals all throughout the United States and elsewhere.
“He provides one of the most readily recognizable images of a Native American in the world,” the Native American Heritage Project web site reported in 2012.
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He was born close to Fort Benton, Montana, in 1872, the positioning states. He was the son of White Calf, chief of the Pikuni Blackfoot.
He achieved worldwide acclaim by preventing to protect Native American tradition.
Blackfeet wearing full ceremonial conventional clothes, Browning, Montana, U.S., circa 1930. (Herbert C. Lanks/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
“The chief headed a secret group known as the ‘Mad Dog Society’ whose purpose was to protect and sustain the Blackfoot Heritage,” in line with the Kansas City Public Library.
“The Crazy Dog Society Song,” from an album of Blackfoot music, is held within the Smithsonian Institution’s assortment of Folkways recordings.
The Kansas City Public Library added, “Chief Two Guns was very outspoken about U.S. policies and the mistreatment of Native Americans.”
“Chief Two Guns was very outspoken about U.S. policies and the mistreatment of Native Americans.”
He championed Native points in Washington, D.C. — rubbing elbows with President Calvin Coolidge — and appeared to bridge cultures lengthy at odds.
White Calf was, in line with a number of sources, the inspiration for the face that appeared on the U.S. Mint’s well-known 1913 Indian head nickel.
This account of the story is disputed, however the picture on the coin bears a placing resemblance to recognized portraits of White Calf.
The two sides of the primary 24-karat pure gold coin one-ounce duplicate of the U.S. Mint’s Buffalo Nickel of 1913. Blackfeet chief John Two Guns White Calf is reportedly the inspiration for the Native American portrait discovered on the coin. His portrait later served because the face of the NFL’s Washington Redskins from 1972 to 2020. (Daniel Barry/Bloomberg through Getty Images)
White Calf grew to become a spokesman for Glacier National Park in Montana, “where he posed with tourists,” in line with the Native American Heritage Project and different accounts.
White Calf was so outstanding within the United States that his demise in 1934 earned a New York Times obituary.
The tribute famous that he helped make President Coolidge “an honorary chief of the same Blackfeet tribe.”
Native American icon
The Redskins of the National Football League had been based because the Boston Braves in 1932, taking part in on the identical area because the Boston Braves of baseball’s National League.
In the custom of the period, the upstart skilled soccer staff adopted the title, picture and shade scheme of the extra established Major League Baseball staff.
The National League Braves had been represented by the picture of Lenni Lenape chief Tammany, dubbed “the patron saint of America” for his position inspiring colonial troops within the American Revolution.
Blackfeet chief John Two Guns White Calf. (Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis through Getty Images)
The Boston Football Braves discovered a brand new hometown area at Fenway Park, house of the Boston Red Sox, in 1933. The franchise modified its title to the Boston Redskins as a tribute to their hosts and to take care of their Tammany identification and uniforms.
The franchise then moved to Washington, D.C., in 1937 and for many years maintained its unique indigenous identification.
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In the Seventies, the Washington Redskins appeared for a brand new Native American icon to characterize the staff. The picture of White Calf was championed by Blackfeet tribal chief Walter “Blackie” Wetzel.
The Redskins stepped onto the sector with a portrait of Chief White Calf on staff helmets for the primary time in 1972.
The similarities between White Calf and the face on the brand are unmistakable. The black-tipped white feathers and braided hair hanging down over the ear are additionally just like these present in footage of White Calf and different Blackfeet.
The proud, outstanding face of White Calf loved widespread help and enter from Native communities throughout the nation. Even the NCAI, for a time, seemed to be amongst those that favored the indigenous icon.
Babe Ruth is proven signing autographs for followers whereas taking part in his final season for the Boston Braves. The National League Braves had been based by James Gaffney, a member of Tammany Hall, who adopted the picture of Lenni Lenape chief King Tammany because the staff brand, seen on Ruth’s left sleeve. The Washington Redskins had been based in 1932 because the Boston Braves and adopted the identical Tammany imagery. (Getty Images)
Wetzel, in spite of everything, was president of the NCAI from 1961 to 1964, earlier than the group modified its priorities.
But instances have modified, famous Billeaudeaux.
“You take away self-esteem when you take away someone’s history.”
While White Calf as soon as fought in opposition to Washington, D.C., to protect the heritage of American Indians, mentioned Billeaudeaux — the NCAI now fights in Washington, D.C., to erase the heritage of American Indians.
Chief White Calf scrubbed
The newer woke NCAI elevated its assault on Native American photos in 2013, when it revealed a report dramatically referred to as “Ending the Legacy of Racism in Sports & The Era of Harmful ‘Indian’ Sports Mascots.”
The 29-page dissertation included a caustic 3,560-word historical past of the Redskins and its “legacy of racism.”
Yet the NCAI Redskins’ narrative is lacking one notable title. It fails to say Chief Two Guns White Calf — the face of the Redskins franchise for 48 years.
Lenni Lenape chief Tammaned, also called Tammany, was dubbed the “Patron Saint of America” by the technology that fought for American independence. This is an idealized portrait by Fritz Bade from descriptions of the person, because it appeared within the 1938 guide, “The Tammany Legend” by Joseph White Norwood. (Fritz Bade/Public Domain)
Fox News Digital made a number of makes an attempt to ask the NCAI to elucidate the oversight and to share its viewpoints — most just lately on Monday, Feb. 5 — however didn’t obtain a response.
The failure to say the once-revered face of the Redskins franchise, in a historical past of the Redskins franchise, betrays the group’s mission to advertise a woke agenda over Native American heritage, Billeaudeaux charged.
The report even cites historic occasions of 1932, together with a Tom & Jerry radio cartoon, to supply conflated help of its claims that the Redskins title was racist. Yet the NCAI failed to notice that the staff modified its title to the Redskins solely after transferring to Fenway Park, house of the Red Sox.
Donald Wetzel holds an autographed Washington Redskins soccer on June 27, 2014, in Great Falls, Montana. Wetzel, a member of the Blackfeet nation, was pleased with the Washington Redskins brand that his father Walter designed within the Sixties and the staff adopted in 1972. (Larry Beckner for The Washington Post through Getty Images)
The examine additionally didn’t point out Tammany, the unique inspiration for the Braves/Redskins Native American imagery when the franchise was based in 1932.
The NCAI report additionally argued, in a extensively repeated declare, that indigenous mascots on sports activities groups have led to low vanity amongst Native Americans.
A supply doc cited within the declare was a short examine of 71 Native American kids in Arizona in 2004.
“They don’t put out accurate information because they don’t want people to know the real story.”
But the declare that Native imagery creates low vanity is “a bald-faced lie,” Walter “Red Hawk” Brown, chief of the Cheroenhaka Nottoway tribe of Virginia, informed Fox News Digital.
The U.S. Army veteran mentioned he was a fan of the Redskins till its historical past was erased. He added, “You take away self-esteem when you take away someone’s history.”
He additionally mentioned, “If things keep going the way they’re going now, in 100 years there will be nothing left of our history.”
Walter “Red Hawk” Brown, chief of the Cheroenhaka Nottoway tribe of Virginia, refuted claims by the National Congress of American Indians that Native American logos in sports activities hurt the vanity of these in Native American communities. Brown spent 28 years as a U.S. Army officer. (Courtesy Cheroenhaka Nottoway tribe/Walter Brown)
Redskins historian Billeaudeaux referred to as the NCAI’s model of occasions a “misinformation campaign” and “information laundering.”
The NCAI tacitly admitted in its personal report that White Calf’s omission was not a mistake.
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“Mr. Wetzel was not president of NCAI at the time he took these reported actions and these actions were not taken on behalf of NCAI’s members,” the group claimed, connecting Wetzel with the Redskins portrait however failing to call the person it portrayed.
The NCAI’s incomplete historical past had the meant impact. The accusations of racism in opposition to the Redskins group caught the eye of congressional leaders and President Obama — and stoked public outrage.
The forty second New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment was generally generally known as The Tammany Regiment, in honor of the Lenni Lenape native who helped encourage the delivery of the brand new nation. Tammany’s picture adorns a battlefield monument devoted to the forty second New York Volunteers at Gettysburg. (Library of Congress/Public Domain)
The Redskins erased the picture of White Calf from the NFL seven years after the NCAI erased him from Native American historical past.
White Calf was not solely scrubbed from the NCAI’s 2013 historical past of the Redskins, however a number of searches on the group’s web site additionally produced no point out of him.
“The whole thing has been a sham since the beginning,” mentioned NAGA president Davidson, expressing her viewpoint. “They don’t put out accurate information because they don’t want people to know the real story.”
Pro-Native American teams combat to save lots of White Calf
As just lately as 2016, a ballot by The Washington Post revealed that 90% of Native Americans supported the Redskins title and brand.
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Over the previous few years, communities throughout the nation have been stepping as much as save their Chief White Calf Redskins heritage and different Native American photos focused by cancel tradition and its woke proponents.
“They’re trying to erase or eradicate Native American history,” mentioned Rick Spiegel, an activist in Sandusky, Michigan, who’s main a grassroots effort to reclaim the Redskins nickname and its White Calf portrait brand on the native highschool.
Residents of Sandusky, Michigan, had been indignant that the native highschool was compelled to erase its Redskins identification regardless of standard help. The Redskins picture just isn’t a stereotype or mascot, famous native activist Rick Spiegel, however the portrait of celebrated Blackfeet Chief John Two Guns White Calf. (Courtesy Rick Spiegel)
Voters in Sandusky just lately recalled three college board members who voted to eradicate the Redskins. They’ve since elected three new pro-Native American college board members who campaigned to carry the Redskins again to Sandusky High School.
Spiegel mentioned that just about 90% of registered voters within the city who responded to a mail-in survey (1,900 of two,100) supported the standard Redskins — as did 74% of scholars and 53% of lecturers on the college in one other survey.
Despite overwhelming public help for the Redskins, Sandusky groups are actually referred to as the Wolves.
The digital show signal bearing the Redskins brand is seen exterior Red Mesa High School on Oct. 15, 2014, in Red Mesa, Arizona. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post through Getty Images)
High faculties across the nation with Native-majority pupil populations have displayed current public help for his or her White Calf-portrait Redskins.
The Red Mesa (Arizona) High School Redskins put in a brand new soccer area final yr with their White Calf Redskins brand splashed throughout the 50-yard line.
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And college students at Wellpinit (Washington) High School voted to maintain the college’s Redskins mascot in March 2023, rejecting efforts to erase it.
“It’s a very powerful word for us,” pupil Smokey Abrahamson informed the Spokesman-Review final March, after main the Welpinit Redskins boys basketball staff to a state championship.
Red Mesa soccer participant Kai Lameman mounted on a mustang horse cheers as he leads his Redskins soccer staff in the course of the homecoming parade at Red Mesa High School on Oct. 16, 2014, in Red Mesa, Arizona. Red Mesa is a small Navajo college in northeast Arizona. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post through Getty Images)
Students additionally “proudly chanted ‘Redskins power’” at a parade to honor the championship staff, the Spokesman-Review reported.
“The people that I’ve talked to — they have a sense of pride about our name, and about our mascot being the Redskins.”
“The people that I’ve talked to — they have a sense of pride about our name, and about our mascot being the Redskins,” Taylor Wiebener, athletic director at Native-majority Kingston (Oklahoma) High School, informed KXII.com in 2020.
A Washington Redskins fan holds up an indication to maintain the Redskins title earlier than the staff performed the Jacksonville Jaguars at FedExField on Sept. 14, 2014, in Landover, Maryland. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
And, in line with activist and historian Billeaudeaux, college students and residents of Donna, Texas, and McCloud, Oklahoma, even have repeatedly voiced help for his or her Redskins identification.
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