![]() NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. For at least some of those fans, Warpaint's retirement is a step in the right direction, moving away from imagery many find offensive.įor NPR News, I'm Luke Martin in Kansas City.Ĭopyright © 2021 NPR. MARTIN: But Beckerman doesn't think the Chiefs need a name change, and he's not worried about adjusting to a post-Warpaint era. Warpaint's retirement wasn't a surprise to him. Joe Beckerman has been going to home games for years. MARTIN: As for the fans, well, they appear to be split. The National Congress of American Indians and plenty of others, including Crouser, want the Chiefs to change their name and cut out Native imagery altogether.ĬROUSER: And it can't be that hard to find something that's not a stereotype of a human being. There was no Warpaint in the late '90s and early 2000s. MARTIN: This isn't the first time a horse has been retired. How much racism are we going to tolerate? GAYLENE CROUSER: They're just kind of, I think, trying to placate the community at this point. That progress is too slow for Gaylene Crouser, executive director of the Kansas City Indian Center. But the notorious tomahawk chop chant is still criticized by many. Last year, the team banned headdresses and Native-inspired face paint in the stadium. ![]() MARTIN: For eight years, the team has consulted the American Indian Community Working Group, and slowly, some change has come. MARK DONOVAN: We'll continue to take the path we've taken educating ourselves, educating our fans, creating opportunities to create awareness. But Donovan stresses that the evolution does not include changing the team's name. The move is part of a years-long evolution in the team's use of much criticized Native American imagery. But at a press conference Monday, team president Mark Donovan says those days are over. She's been doing victory runs after Chiefs touchdowns since 2009. LUKE MARTIN, BYLINE: The retirement is that of a horse named Warpaint. As KCUR's Luke Martin reports, this week, the Chiefs retired a well-known fixture at Arrowhead Stadium. Now that Cleveland's baseball team revealed its new name, some of the spotlight has turned to Kansas City football.
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