Jenni Carlson: Call Kansas City the Super Bowl champs — but not its American Indian nickname

Growing up in the farm lands of Kansas, I thought Kansas City was the be all, end all. It was my ideal for “the big city.” When my family went on vacation, we went there. When we cheered a pro sports team, we cheered for the ones there.

So, yes, my baseball and football allegiances were set.

(Sorry, soccer, but I came well before Sporting KC was around.)

Even though I was elated for many family and friends Sunday when Kansas City won the Super Bowl, my passion for the team has subsided over the years. Being in sports journalism tends to numb your fandom.

But that’s not the only thing that’s changed for me where KC is concerned -- I’ve made the decision to stop using the football team’s nickname.

This issue of American Indian mascots has been a topic of debate for many years. Decades, really. It has been discussed from the preps to the pros. Should sports teams use Native nicknames and the associated imagery? Are they honoring the culture or stereotyping it? Are some of the nicknames acceptable while others are not?

Several years back, I decided to stop using the mascot of Washington’s NFL team. The term has long been a pejorative for American Indians, a way to disparage or insult them. The first time it was listed in Merriam-Webster in 1898, it was cited as “often contemptuous” even then.

The history of the word and the baggage it carries for many American Indians convinced me to stop using it.

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I have carried that over to high school teams in our state, too. If your mascot is the same as Washington's NFL team, you won’t see me using it. I’ll just use your school name. Tulsa Union. McLoud. Kingston. Rush Springs. Easy enough.

Frankly, referring to a prep team by the high school’s name instead of the mascot makes life easier for everyone. People don't always know what a certain high school's mascot is, so I avoid using mascots when referring to high school teams most of the time anyway.

But the mascots of pro teams?

Well, that’s different. The identity of the teams is wrapped up in the nicknames. Green Bay and Packers. Boston and Celtics. St. Louis and Cardinals. They’re all synonymous.

I can’t promise there won’t be times when I slip up and use Kansas City’s mascot, especially in conversation. My brain has been hardwired for years. But that used to be the case with Washington’s mascot. I used it without even thinking. Over time, though, I’ve retrained my brain and stopped using it. I don’t write it. I don’t say it.

Same for adding “Lady” to a mascot. I decided it was ridiculous to call a girls’ or women’s team anything different than the boys’ or men’s teams at that school. The exception is something like Cowboys and Cowgirls or Mules and Jennies, but unless we start adding “Gentlemen” to the boys’ and men’s teams, there will be no “Lady.”

It’s silly.

The thing about Native mascots is, they aren’t silly. They’re demeaning. And while I used to think that wasn't the case with some of those mascots, my thinking has evolved to believe that about all of them.

I have Rhonda LeValdo to thank for that.

LeValdo teaches media communications at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, and early last month, she wrote a guest editorial for The Kansas City Star titled “Problem with ‘Arrowhead Chop’ isn’t political correctness. It’s about human dignity.” I have read a lot over the years about the use of American Indian mascots, but LeValdo made a point I had never seen before. 

She recounted meeting a military veteran who believed dressing up in Native attire was a way to honor those people, their traditions and their heritage.

“I asked him,” LeValdo wrote, “how he feels about people who pretend to be veterans when they are not.”

That line hit me like an unblocked linebacker.

Wham.

I am well aware how military veterans feel about people who claim to be veterans when they aren’t. Even folks who have served can get into trouble when they fudge the truth or stretch the reality.

“Stolen Valor,” it is called.

If someone showed up in public wearing fake military garb and counterfeit war medals, no one would say it was honoring veterans. That sort of thing is actually against the law, but more than that, it’s the height of mockery, disrespect and insult.

But fans packing a stadium in Kansas City wearing headdresses and “war paint” and doing the “Arrowhead Chop,” is supposed to be OK?

That isn’t honoring American Indians.

That is insulting.

And it’s because of the mascot. That’s why I won’t be using that nickname anymore. 

Listen, I’m super excited for people I love who love the football team in Kansas City. My parents. My brothers. My sister-in-law. Nephews. Cousins. Aunts. Uncles. On and on the list goes. I’m pumped they get to call their team the Super Bowl champs.

The only other thing I'll be calling it, though, is Kansas City.