The Tribal Council for the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska released a statement following the announcement that at least two professional sports franchises will be changing their mascots.
The Cleveland MLB team dropped their "Chief Wahoo" mascot and the Washington D.C. NFL team will no longer go by the name "Redskins."
The statement reads, “The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is encouraged that this long-overdue moment has arrived, with one professional sports franchise abandoning a mascot that perpetuated a racial slur and another examining how Native American mascots are offensive and have no place in our society. Using Native Americans as sports mascots and our deeply meaningful symbols, including headdresses, is inappropriate. Advancing troubling stereotype in popular culture and society via sports mascots diminishes our personhood.
“The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is hopeful that other sports franchises will make the right decision by ceasing their use of derogatory and offensive mascots, and thereby examining their own use of mascots, chants, symbols and themes that disparage our people.”