Baseball team to be named today; Flatheads offensive to some
Published: October 15, 2009
Updated: October 15, 2009
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This afternoon, Richmond baseball officials will announce the name of the area's incoming minor-league team.
Some people hope the choice won't be Flatheads.
The word has undertones for Native Americans. Team officials said they haven't had any calls or complaints about the potential use of Flatheads, which was proposed as a reference to catfish found in the James River.
Team officials did remove Hambones from the list Tuesday after protests that the name refers to a dance brought to America by West Africans and later performed at minstrel shows.
Flathead is the name of a Native American reservation in western Montana that is home to the Confederated Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreille tribes. A tribal spokesman reached by phone said he asked tribal elders to see what they thought of the name.
"We are a complex, diverse community with many points of view," said communications director Robert McDonald.
"We have tribal members who are fans of the Washington Redskins, and we have people who argue how those mascots are demeaning. Some in our tribe would find offense" in Richmond's usage, he said.
McDonald said there are about a half-dozen stories about the origin of the Flathead name, including a reference to facial features, the shape of headdresses, and a cultural practice of binding infants' skulls with boards -- which the Confederated tribes haven't done.
In Virginia, Native Americans said the name could be offensive.
"I would hope that 'Flatheads' wouldn't be the name," said Stephen R. Adkins, chief of the Chickahominy tribe in Charles City County.
"If you're in a game in a sea of non-Indians, with people chanting mutterings, and you see someone dressed in ceremonial regalia, you feel like a target for derogatory remarks, things that aren't complimentary to your heritage," he said.
Adkins did not call Richmond baseball officials, though he saw in the Richmond Times-Dispatch where they dropped Hambones and thought they would do the same for Flatheads.
"But I'm probably way too trusting," he said.
Karenne Wood of the Virginia Indian Heritage Program said: "If people want to celebrate sports athletics, why does it need to be associated with native people? You don't find them associated with other races."
Contact Chris I. Young at (804) 649-6754 or
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Reader Reactions
if I were an indian, I would be more affended that a catfish or a screwdriver was named after me than a baseball team…
I wish someone would come and get this one out of my backyard… he is into everything, and MY dog hates him. IN addition, squirrels are considered to be nothing more than “Tree Rats”.
Now, I will sit back and see who comes from under the rug and tells us how he/she is offended. However, I have been with some women years ago and they were a little on the Squirrely side… lol
Wow, ‘Virginian’, with the timing of that post it sounds like you knew what the name was going to be all along.
Quick…someone go round up the squirrel population of Richmond and file a class action law suit!!
I know lots of squirrels who will be offended!
Flying Squirrels? That’s the best they could come up with? I’m surprised no one suggested Rapids.
Posted by ( dowatchalike ) on October 15, 2009 at 12:25 pm
what’s really annoying, is that i’m sure more than half the folks complaining about the names weren’t planning on attending a game…ever.
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Yep, and the same goes for probably 90+ percent of the ones who swear the Boulevard is the best place for the ballpark. They either don’t go to games or go to very few and that’s only when someone else pays for it.
React to the new naem here:
The Richmond Rapids is the BEST name I have heard so far if we are trying to tie it to the James Rapids - all the rest sound like T-Ball team names (with no offense of course to the t-ballers). We have already lost all dignity with baseball letting politics and non-baseball loving people stear the ship - come on people IT’S BASEBALL - It’s the love of the game - it’s watching Javy Lopez and Chipper Jones grow up in baseball and then retiring!!
I didn’t like the name “Hambone” either Jennygirl… I do like a good leftover “Hambone” for cooking and boy does it add flavor to a good pot of White Navy Bean soup or a pot of good Ole Blackeye peas…...
what’s really annoying, is that i’m sure more than half the folks complaining about the names weren’t planning on attending a game…ever. i’m getting tired of these single digit fruitloops making statements just to make them. you’ll find something non-PC about everything and anything this city attempts. get over yourselves…
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