The Next Logical Step After Redface
So maybe Colbert wasn't able to drum up much mainstream notice of the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation, but one Cleveland Indians fan managed to get mascots into the limelight when he agreed to walk over and explain to AIM just how wrong they all were on this whole redface thing.
Cleveland Frowns blogged the whole story after pictures of a fan in redface, who identified himself as Pedro Rodriguez, went viral:
He went on to explain that he's just an Indians fan, that this is Cleveland Pride, and that's all it's about.
For consideration, here's Cleveland Pride next to some of its equivalents:
And, since there's nothing wrong with Chief Wahoo there, there's nothing wrong with those other guys. The redface guy above is clearly not trying to look like an actual Native American, anyway. He's dressed up like a cartoon. A totally inoffensive cartoon.
So let's dress up like all those other inoffensive cartoons:
I want to see a group of fans doing this at a ball game. I'm so into the idea, I'll do whatever needs doing to help make it happen. If there are three sports fans out there looking for a fourth, I'll come along with you.
If the press wants to talk to us, we'll say, "But don't they all kind of look like Chief Wahoo?" And he's not racist, so how can anyone be offended by Sambo or the Frito Bandito... who clearly are not at all racist, because just look.
We're not dressing up like actual ethnic people, anyway, we're dressing up like fun, harmless cartoons. We're doing this in their honor, and these are totally inoffensive harmless cartoons in case we hadn't mentioned. To really drive the point home about how this totally isn't racist, we'll each paint one word of "THIS TOTALLY ISN'T RACIST" on our bellies and lift our shirts on the Jumbotron.
Besides, when you get right down to it, you have to admit that it's kind of unfair that only Indians get to be honored like this. This sort of honor used to be something almost everyone could enjoy, and it can be again. I think we can all help spread it around again, just like in the old days.
Let's not even wait until the next time Cleveland comes to town. Let's do this at all home games, every home game, to show that we aren't playing favorites. Let's get people doing it in every city where baseball is played. Let's get the momentum going here, then move on to hockey and football too. Let's celebrate every culture all over the United States the way we celebrate American Indians.
So, who's with me?
(#Not4Sale, #NotYourMascot, #RedFaceDisgrace)