Martoons

Hi mARToons fan!

SSSSH! I’m combatting systemic racism against indigenous cultures by …. sssh! … by making certain words disappear.

Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail (Monday February 3 edition) has devised a unique way to combat racism. In his Super Bowl column, he never once refers to the “Kansas City Chiefs,” only “Kansas City.”

Well, you say, that’s okay as long as he’s consistent.

He wasn’t.

He mentions the “49ers” several times, not merely “San Francisco.”

At first, as I read the column, the omission of the presumably dirty word “Chiefs” stuck out like a sore thumb.

I noticed it right away.

But I wondered, have they changed their official name to just “Kansas City”?

After all, they still have the arrowhead symbol with “KC” inside it.

So I did some checking and flipped open my same day copy of the National Post.

Nope.

“Chiefs” this and “Chiefs” that.

So this device of leaving out the word “Chiefs” is solely Cathal Kelly’s invention.

And how brilliant!

Is it true we can solve the racism in this country simply by leaving out certain words that are possibly interpreted as derogatory references to aboriginal society? Like the word “Chiefs”? 

Leave out the word and the underlying injustice will go away?

Remember the classic line in the Door’s movie where Ed Sullivan tells the Doors they have to leave out the word “higher” from the song Light My Fire?

An argument ensues with the band members telling Jim Morrison, ‘Come on Jim, it’s only a word,’ whereupon Jim replies, ‘Okay then, so let’s just call our group the Windows!’

The Kansas City team is still called the “Chiefs”, so until that changes that is how they have to be referred to. That’s their name. It has strong meaning and history for that team and it’s fans. 

And think about this: What is so bad about the word “Chiefs”?

Is it really a negative connotation with respect to First Nations leaders?

Hardly.

The average person, me included, generally respects Chiefs.

Some had truly amazing lives and helped shape Canadian history.

“Chiefs” is a very good name for a football team so Mr. Cathal Kelly don’t take it upon yourself to eliminate as part of some fuzzy agenda of political correctness.

Cheers, mARTy West, editor, clickmARToons.com

Contact me at west_martin@hotmail.com or the assistant editor at thomasrawling@gmail.com

Cheers!

mARTy West, editor, clickmARToons.com

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