"Racist" logos, "racist" mascots, "racist" names - Where will it end?

It was bound to happen. Towards the end of yesterday's fond (but somewhat premature) farewell to the Cleveland Indians' beloved Chief Wahoo, I wrote that the Chicago Blackhawks' mascot, Tommy Hawk, "is the coolest Indian in all of sports." The Indian ink [sic. Ed.] was no sooner dry on the parchment when Poor Len Canayen was on the horn to correct me. Tommy Hawk, he told me, is not an Indian or First Nations person or whatever term's PC these days, but, as shown in the picture at the left, is actually... wait for it... a hawk... a black hawk. Geddit?

The only Indian in the picture at upper left is the rather noble-looking chap whose visage adorns the Chicago team's sweaters. (And they are sweaters, by the way -- hockey sweaters. Don Cherry gets his hair all on fire when commentators -- usually American -- call them "jerseys". Quite right, too.) That Indian, complete with coppery skin, feathers and war paint, is a logo, not a mascot. (A cunning linguist would debate even that point. A purist would say a "logo" should be a word, but in modern times it has come to mean any distinctive design.)

OK, the Chicago Blackhawks have an Indian for a logo. And a fine-looking logo it is, too. But who is that person? Is he supposed to be Chief Blackhawk (or Black Hawk)? There was such a person -- Black Hawk, born Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak in 1767. He was a band leader and warrior of the Sauk American Indian tribe in what is now flyover country -- the midwestern USA. Black Hawk was not a hereditary civil chief. He earned his status as a war chief or captain by his actions: leading raiding and war parties as a young man, and a band of Sauk warriors during the Black Hawk War of 1832.

During the War of 1812 -- the only war America lost until Vietnam -- Black Hawk fought on the side of the British, hoping to push white American settlers away from Sauk territory. Later he led a band of Sauk and Fox warriors, known as the British Band, against European-American settlers in Illinois and present-day Wisconsin in the 1832 Black Hawk War. After the war, he was captured by US forces and taken to the eastern states, where, in true American entrepreneurial fashion, he and other war leaders were put on display on a tour of several cities.

Shortly before being released from custody, Black Hawk told his story to an interpreter. Aided also by a newspaper reporter, he published Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk, Embracing the Traditions of his Nation in Cincinnati iin 1833. His book was the first autobiography of a Native American [That's today's PC term, in the USA. Ed.] to be published in the USA. It became an immediate bestseller and went through several editions. Black Hawk died in 1838 in what is now southeastern Iowa. He has been honoured by an enduring legacy: his book, many eponyms, and other tributes, including (I would suggest) the Chicago team's name and logo.

I must admit, though, that the logo doesn't greatly resemble the real Black Hawk. That's him, looking askance from the top right. Is that logo racist? How about the mascot? Why does Tommy Hawk have to be black? Has the NAACP heard about this? Will the Chicago hockey team be forced to remove the Chief from their uniforms and merchandise, just as Cleveland has been forced to do away with Chief Wahoo? Will either team also have to change its name to satisfy the SJWs and PC police? Stay tuned.