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Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College

The Cleveland Indians changed their team name – what's holding back the Atlanta Braves?

Atlanta Braves fans perform the 'tomahawk chop' during a playoff game in 2004. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

In October 1995, as the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves prepared to face off in the World Series, a group of Native Americans rallied outside Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to protest what they called both teams’ racist names and mascots. Some protesters carried signs, including one that said, “Human beings as mascots is not politically incorrect. It is morally wrong.”

They marched outside the ballpark, where some vendors were selling the foam tomahawks that Braves fans wave during the “tomahawk chop” – a cheer in which they mimic a Native American war chant while making a hammering motion with their arms.

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