ESPN’s Major League Baseball reporter Jeff Passan took to Twitter on Friday to make a case for stopping the “Tomahawk Chop” practice long performed by Braves fans by citing the “truly racist” American policies of the early 20th century.
It wasn’t really received all that well.
Passan led off by explicitly addressing those with “deeply ingrained” opinions who find the tomahawk chop issue “disingenuous” and to make them understand the “mistreatment of indigenous people in Georgia.”
Passan then delved into the specific origin of the Braves’ nickname.
Passan followed with a tweet claiming that his “history lesson” was not about being “woke.”
Of course, merely saying something is not woke does not make it not woke. A fact hammered home by many Twitter users who blasted Passan for being woke:
Others responded with chops of their own.
Others had an environmental take on Passan’s take:
Some decided to give a humorous history lesson in response:
This was a solid point:
On Tuesday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred defended the “Chop” by highlighting support from Atlanta’s local Native American community.
“The Native American community in that region is wholly supportive of the Braves program, including the chop,” Manfred said, according to Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. “For me, that’s kind of the end of the story. In that market, we’re taking into account the Native American community. …In Atlanta, they’ve done a great job with the Native Americans. The Native American community is the most important group to decide whether it’s appropriate or not.”
It doesn’t sound like the “Chop” is going anywhere anytime soon.
Sorry, Jeff.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.