Donald Trump makes “Tomahawk Chop”, considered insulting to Indians, during a baseball game

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The Parisian

THE’Former United States President Donald Trump greeted the baseball team in Atlanta on Saturday by performing “Tomahawk Chop”, a popular gesture among fans of several sports teams in the United States. But the practice is condemned by the Indians who consider it insulting to their culture.

Trump makes Tomahawk Chop at World Series pic.twitter.com/CbtRAVybyB

- Benny (@bennyjohnson) October 31, 2021

Whistled belowa match that counts for the World Series Two years ago in Washington, Donald Trump teamed up with thousands of Atlanta Braves fans to simulate the attack of a tomahawk (Indian ax) with his arm at Truist Park in Atlanta, before their match against the Houston Astros in Major League Baseball (MLB). the final in the best of seven matches. From their box, Melania Trump, his wife, also took up this controversial gesture.

A ritual that “dehumanizes and harms us”

The former presidential couple was accompanied by former US football star Herschel Walker, who is vying for the position of senator from Georgia, a candidacy supported by the former US president.

The racism debate has not spared the sports world in the United States, and especially MLB. For example, this year the Cleveland Indians Club decided to change its name to give the Guardians a new name, out of respect for the Indians. “Tomahawk chop” is still popular with fans and supported by MLB, but Commissioner Rob Manfred said this week that the practice had the full support of the Indians in Atlanta. “For me, this is the end of the story,” he said.

But the president of the National Native American Council, Fawn Sharp, recalled that his institution had repeatedly explained to the Atlanta Braves that “Indians are not mascots and that degrading rituals such as Tomahawk chop, which dehumanizes and harms us, has no place in American society.