Posted on 02/23/2021 5:17:25 AM PST by Red Badger
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. - It is time for Jeep to stop using the Cherokee Nation’s name on its Cherokee and Grand Cherokee SUVs, the chief of the Oklahoma-based tribe said.
Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. said in a statement first reported by Car & Driver magazine that he believes corporations and sports teams should stop using Native American names, images and mascots as nicknames or on their products.
"I’m sure this comes from a place that is well-intended, but it does not honor us by having our name plastered on the side of a car," Hoskin said.
Kristin Starnes, a spokeswoman for Jeep’s parent company, Amsterdam-based Stellantis, said in a statement that the vehicle name was carefully selected "and nurtured over the years to honor and celebrate Native American people for their nobility, prowess and pride." She didn’t say whether the company was considering renaming the vehicles and didn’t immediately reply to an email requesting that information.
Hoskin says the best way to honor the Tahlequah, Oklahoma-based tribe is to learn more about its history.
"The best way to honor us is to learn about our sovereign government, our role in this country, our history, culture and language and have meaningful dialogue with federally recognized tribes on cultural appropriateness," Hoskin said.
The controversy comes amid a national reckoning over the use of Native American names and images, particularly in sports.
After years of resistance and under pressure from corporate sponsors, the NFL’s Washington, D.C., franchise announced last year that it was dropping its "Redskins" nickname and Indian head logo and would go by the name Washington Football Team until a permanent replacement was chosen. Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians also announced last year that it would change its name.
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick to death of this crap.
Ping!...................
I think that’s fair. Smarter choice might have been to hold them up for a licensing arrangement 40 years ago, but there’s no reason why an ethnicity has to have their name used in a marketing campaign. If you disagree, Sioux me, I don’t care.
Chief Chuck has spoken!
Why do I suspect that 99.9% of the tribe members don’t give a hoot about this car name?
I think me an Ute can Apache this up.....................
New for 2022! The Jeep Honkey.
OK how about drunken savages
In fairness, I’d be embarrassed to have my tribal name even indirectly associated with Bruce Springsteen.
….But we would feel honored, for say, $100 million over 10 years.
Maybe “da boss” can get Chief Chuck to meet him in the middle.
The Cherokee Chief is simply looking for a heap of money.
I can see through the smoke.
Seems only right that Jeep comply so we can “meet in the middle”...they’re on the record after all lecturing us on that point.
Maybe they can follow the same approach as the Redskins’ renaming, and rename it the “Jeep Full Size SUV”.
I doubt “Cherokee” is what they called themselves. Probably some white guys mispronunciation of what they or their “peaceful” neighbors called them.
As a white man, and I’m sure this comes from a place that is well-intended, but it does not honor us by having our color painted on a car.
LOL..............It took me a few seconds....................
If Native Americans tribal names are removed from all the places and things that desire to honor them by naming things after them, then they will be effectively erased from history, and ultimately forgotten, except for a few dusty and never-read books on back shelves of libraries where no one goes any more.
Is that what Chief Chuck wants?
No one name a team or a place or a product after the weak or dishonored. One names things for those they admire, or to evoke power or strength.
Me, too. I guess Indian motorcycles missed this b.s.
We are probably headed toward something like Peoples’ Car #1.
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