Five Oklahoma tribes demand apology from Atlanta Braves for decision to host “Georgia Tribe Night”

Fans arrive outside the stadium prior to the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies at Truist Park in May 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are facing criticism for hosting a "Georgia Tribe Night." (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) (This image cannot be republished unless you have a Getty subscription.)

OKLAHOMA CITY — A group of prominent Oklahoma-based tribal officials are demanding an apology from the Atlanta Braves after the team celebrated “Georgia Tribe Night” at its stadium last month.

Leaders of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Tribes announced Tuesday that they had passed a resolution calling on the Major League Baseball team to apologize for “honoring fraudulent groups that pose as tribes without federal recognition” and urging the team to conduct “meaningful consultations” with federally recognized tribes on “how to properly engage with Native Americans.”

The Council, which is composed of leaders from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole nations, represents about 815,000 Indigenous citizens across the United States.

On June 29, the Braves posted on X that the team was “honored to welcome representatives from Native American groups in the state of Georgia, including the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns, the Cherokee of Georgia Tribal Council, the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee and the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe.”

There are 574 federally recognized tribes and Alaska Natives tribes , including the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina.

The three tribes honored by the Braves are not among them. They are state-recognized by the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns , a nine-member legislatively created body tasked with addressing the “concerns of Georgia’s American Indians.”

An email to a Braves spokesperson seeking comment was not returned.

Chuck Hoskin Jr., Cherokee Nation principal chief, said for a corporation like the Atlanta Braves baseball team to elevate — on his tribe’s own historic homelands — organizations that are “posing as Cherokee tribes” is “offensive” and “tone deaf at a minimum.”

The Tribes’ resolution notes that their ancestral lands covered most of the southeastern United States, including Georgia and the Atlanta area. The tribes were forcibly removed by the government.

He said the Braves already have a troubled history with how they depict Native American culture, particularly through their fans’ use of the “Tomahawk chop” gesture and use of the weapon in its branding.

The team’s name, “Tomahawk chop” and fake battle cry have all generated controversy and outrage among Indigenous groups and advocates, who claim it supports racist stereotypes and does not accurately reflect Native culture.

And while the Washington Commanders football team and the Cleveland Guardians baseball team have changed their names in recent years, the Braves have resisted calls to do the same.

Hoskin said the Braves’ decision to host the tribe night event seemingly doubles down on the team’s indifference on issues important to Native communities, which include sovereignty and their unique cultures.

“What the crowd is not understanding is that in doing so (promoting these groups), the Atlanta Braves are offending actual Indian tribes that represent actual Indians that have an actual demonstrable history of suffering with the state of Georgia,” Hoskin said. “But I think in doing so, they misplaced their resources and efforts. If they really wanted some healing, they know where to find us.”

He said efforts by the Georgia Legislature to give the three groups recognition does not make them tribal entities and there’s no viable standard to create “a state tribe.”

Hoskin said the Braves’ decision to classify the groups as “Cherokee” undermines a generations-long effort on the behalf of federally recognized Cherokee people to remind the country about their forcible removal and that 468,000 Cherokee citizens live across the nation. An estimated 2,400 of them reside in Georgia.

“We are trying to really correct centuries of misinformation, sometimes intentional, sometimes whitewashing history, and it becomes more difficult when these organizations exist and when a multi-million dollar corporation with a great deal of power, and frankly, a great deal of responsibility, that its not exercising, enables this falsehood in front of tens of thousands of people,” Hoskin said. “It’s offensive.”

Rhonda Bennett, council chair for the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee and who serves on the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns, said she doesn’t believe the Braves owe an apology.

“We are honored for the recognition,” Bennett said.

She said the tribe’s ancestors remained in North Georgia after the forced removal of the Cherokee to Oklahoma Territory.

The tribe fought for federal recognition for nearly 45 years, but were denied mainly because they could not prove they assembled after the removal, Bennett said. Tribal citizens faced prison time, expulsion to Oklahoma or death if they violated a state law banning assembly.

Many of its 700 present-day citizens hold a direct lineage to the first chief justice of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court in Indian Territory , she said.

“It’s a very sad story,” she said of Cherokee history. “Fighting among each other is just a sadder story.”

Her ancestors faced decades of discrimination by Georgia officials.

“It seems like since the 1800s, the Cherokee have had to fight against someone. We certainly do not want to fight amongst each other,” Bennett said. “What we want is our Tribe and the Tribe’s heritage to be preserved and recognized, and we want to be at peace with the Cherokee Nation.”

She said she holds out hope that one day Hoskin will want to meet with her to talk about what unites them and their shared Cherokee heritage.

“We are still here, and we have been throughout time immemorial,” Bennett said.

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