wfn.org | 'Chief Wahoo' protest trial begins

["Barb Powell"<powellb@ucc.org>]

April 2, 1998
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Hans Holznagel
(216) 736-2214
E-mail:  holznagh@ucc.org
Laurie Bartels
(216) 736-2213
E-mail:  bartelsl@ucc.org
On the World Wide Web:  http://www.ucc.org
                    
Jury selection begins in anti-'Wahoo' activists' case
                    
CLEVELAND--The court case of three activists who
oppose Cleveland's Major League Baseball logo and name
began today (April 2) with the defendants asking
potential jurors to entertain the argument that, to many
American Indians, "Chief Wahoo" symbolizes more than
just baseball.
     Jury selection is scheduled to continue at 9 a.m.
Friday in Cleveland Municipal Court in the case of
Vernon Bellecourt of Minneapolis and Juanita Helphrey
and Juan Reyna of Cleveland. 
     They were arrested during a demonstration outside
Jacobs Field before a World Series game Oct. 23, 1997. 
The three are American Indians who consider the bright
red, buck-toothed, feather-capped logo, together with
the name "Indians," to be racist, demeaning and 
disrespectful of their cultural and spiritual heritage.
     Bellecourt faces charges of criminal endangering
and resisting arrest in connection with the burning of
an effigy of "Chief Wahoo" near East 9th Street and
Bolivar.  Helphrey and Reyna were charged with
aggravated disorderly conduct and criminal trespass on
allegations that they refused to leave a separate -- and
peaceful -- demonstration site when police ordered
protestors to disperse.
     Assistant City Prosecutor Reuben Sheperd asked the
court to limit questioning and testimony to the narrower
issues surrounding the misdemeanor charges against the
defendants.  "To get into the alleged racial
insensitivity which the defendants wish to claim is
going beyond the scope of this trial," he argued.  "To
allow them to turn this into a trial of the Cleveland
Indians, Jacobs Field or the Gateway Development Corp.
is to appeal to the emotional and take the jurors'
attention away from the charges in this case.  This is
not the forum for that discussion."
     But defense attorney Terry Gilbert said the
defendants should be allowed to explain to the jury just
how offensive the misuse of American Indian symbols is
to them -- and how they see it connected to broader
social and economic difficulties they face. 
     These issues, Gilbert said, are relevant to why,
where and how the activists express their opinions.
     "These are not far-fetched defenses," Gilbert said.
"These are real concerns of real people.  They need to
explain that 'Chief Wahoo' is not a comical little
cartoon.  It is part of the destruction of the lives of
real people."  He also said the defense would argue that
the team, the public corporation that owns the stadium
and other interests "have a motivation to destroy
opposition to a symbol that generates money."
     Judge Kathleen Keough denied the city's motion to
limit testimony, although she also said the court "is
not going to fall into a discussion of the whole history
and use of the Wahoo logo" and "will keep it in the
confines of appropriateness."
     During more than five hours of questioning today,
a number of potential jurors admitted that they "liked,"
were "loyal to" or even "loved" the baseball team's name
and logo; several said they didn't understand protests
against what they saw as a harmless cartoon that is "no
big deal."  But as the questioning wore on, Gilbert
likened the logo to racially offensive symbols of the
past, such as "Black Sambo."  He also pointed out the
use of demeaning caricatures in Nazi Germany and other
historical movements to generate hate against racial and
ethnic groups.
     By day's end, a number of possible jurors said
that, though they were still not offended by Chief
Wahoo, they now could at least see why American Indians
might be upset.
     The United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, a
mission agency of the United Church of Christ -- where
Helphrey works as a racial-justice advocate -- is
helping with the protestors' defense costs and has
started a Legal Defense Fund for Indigenous People
Resisting Racism for that purpose (call 216-736-3260 for
details or to contribute).
     The United Church of Christ, with national offices
in Cleveland, has some 1.5 million members and 6,100
local churches in the United States and Puerto Rico. 
Its General Synod, a body of delegates that meets every
two years, went on record in 1991 as opposing the
"negative stereotyping" of American Indians in sports
and commerce.  In the UCC's decentralized form of
governance, members and local congregations are free to
hold opinions that differ from those of the General
Synod.
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