Cleveland Indians to ‘determine the best path forward’ regarding team name

The Cleveland Indians are taking a hard look at their own name.

The MLB franchise released a statement Friday, saying the team is “committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name.”

The Indians removed the “Chief Wahoo” logo from their uniforms after the 2018 season ended.

The full statement from the Indians is as follows:

“We are committed to making a positive impact in our community and embrace our responsibility to advance social justice and equality. Our organization fully recognizes our team name is among the most visible ways in which we connect with the community.

“We have had ongoing discussions organizationally on these issues. The recent social unrest in our community and our country has only underscored the need for us to keep improving as an organization on issues of social justice.

“With that in mind, we are committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name.

“While the focus of the baseball world shifts to the excitement of an unprecedented 2020 season, we recognize our unique place in the community and are committed to listening, learning, and acting in the manner that can best unite and inspire our city and all those who support our team.”

Atlanta Braves say the franchise ‘honors, supports, and values the Native American community’

On Friday, before Cleveland released its statement, CNN had reached out to the Indians and the Atlanta Braves regarding their franchise names. The Braves did not address a name change in their response.

“The Atlanta Braves honors, supports, and values the Native American community,” the statement said. “That will never change.

“The Atlanta Braves relationship with the Native American community goes back many years and over the past several months, we have created an even stronger bond with various Native American tribes, both regionally and nationally, on matters related to the Braves and Native American culture.

“We have also held meetings with our Native American Working Group which will collaborate with us on cultural issues, education and community outreach to amplify their voices and show our fans they are still proudly here.

“The Atlanta Braves have a meaningful commitment to honor the Native American community and we are excited about working together to ensure this happens.

“We have much work to do on and off the field, but the Atlanta Braves are ready to meet the challenge of these times.”

Upon receiving this statement, CNN followed up with the Braves to try to clarify if the team has no plans at this time to change the name but did not receive a reply.