Atlanta Braves fans in Truist Park watched their team win the World Series hundreds of miles away in Houston on Tuesday. But the viewing party included a cheer that doesn’t belong anywhere.
A local news reporter posted video of enthusiastic supporters doing the notorious “tomahawk chop” as the team was beating the Houston Astros in Game 6 on the way to its first World Series title since 1995.
The synchronized display of chopping lights accompanied by a chant received praise from many on Twitter, but definitely not from the National Congress of American Indians. Earlier the group reiterated its position on the cheer, which many Native Americans consider racist and demeaning.
“In our discussions with the Atlanta Braves, we have repeatedly and unequivocally made our position clear ― Native people are not mascots, and degrading rituals like the ‘tomahawk chop’ that dehumanize and harm us have no place in American society,” the group’s president, Fawn Sharp, said, per ABC News.
That didn’t stop the faithful, who were previously joined by former President Donald Trump in the misguided cheer during Game 4.
Some brave ― lowercase b ― fans called out the Game 6 viewing-party chop, even as many marveled.