Its slow arm extension, mimicking a chopping motion, accompanied by its mocking “war cry” has its roots, according to most accounts, at Florida State University in the 1980s. Even though it negatively reinforced an inaccurate racial stereotype, other fan bases starting adopting it, including those of the Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Chiefs. Minnesota baseball fans became all too familiar with the cringeworthy chant during the 1991 Twins-Braves World Series.
As popular as the tomahawk chop has been, all of us in a more-enlightened 2021 can agree with the sentiment of Finn Swanson, the young Kansas City football fan who wrote this to his team in a change.org petition: “It is offensive to Native Americans and should be banned.”
His letter was reported by Reuters in a story published this week in…
