Journalist Vincent Schilling is speaking out against the Kansas City Chiefs’ use of Native American mascots and imagery.
On Twitter, Schilling, a Native American writer, explains why he thinks the Chiefs “are not honoring Native people.”
He also talks about how the Kansas City NFL team got its name and the impact of what he considers to be offensive stereotypes.
Schilling lamented, “I typed ‘Kansas City Chiefs’ into Twitter Gif’s and the offensive image of a man doing the Tomahawk Chop in a headdress is the third image to come up.”
He also said the Chiefs got their name from a “non-Native man who formed a fake Indian Boy Scout tribe, the Mic-O-Say.”
Kansas City’s official mascot is K.C. Wolf, which was first introduced in 1989 as a successor for Warpaint. But Chiefs fans often wear Native American headdresses and perform the Tomahawk chop as they cheer their team.
The matchup between the Chiefs and the 49ers at the Super Bowl LIV will be held Sunday, Feb. 2, in Miami.