Absolutely agree.
I also absolutely agree with the bolded part of this excerpt. Where I'm having a hard-time, and the answer could be complexly found down the longer conversation you cited, is that this POV is a white people issue on it's face. While cultural assimilation could band Indians fans who love the Chief together, regardless of race, I fail to see that this is merely an outlook forced by white people.. I mean, I went to Game 1 (on the same night as the Cavs' opener) and saw a lot of diverse folks wearing the Chief and even some people selling a Chief with "LeBron characteristics" who were black. Does the racial sensitivity aspect you brought up come into play? I'm sure over time it does. Does that mean that it's safe to assume that the Chief is supported mostly by people who act white? I would say it isn't true and may serve one's bias.. Some of those vendors I know & I've seen while at community rallies in Cleveland centered around injustice.
I'm not suggesting this is a "White issue," I don't even think such a thing exists. We all form our shared culture, so these are issues for all of us. But various groups within our larger culture react differently.
Blacks will tend to be more receptive to topics of racial sensitivity than Whites; this is just a statistical observation, but in that, I think it's empirically true. This doesn't mean they're genetically predisposed to being this way, obviously; but what it means is that the normative culture/ethnicity is less prone/receptive to arguments challenging the status quo.
So while you'll see tons of African-Americans wearing Chief Wahoo, because it isn't Chief Sambo; if you presented the arguement to a group of Blacks and a group of Whites, you could be fairly confident to get a more receptive audience for change among the African-Americans.
This is also evidenced by the partisan/ideological aspect of this conversation, which brings us back to Akronite's point about conservatives.
A group of 100 Black people will only have, maybe, 8-10 conservatives. Whereas a group of 100 White people will generally have about 60 conservatives. And while there are plenty of liberals who are fine with Chief Wahoo; liberals are more receptive, as we stated above, to the idea -- particularly those who live outside of Cleveland or aren't originally from the area.
So again... Akronite's point, along these lines, is generally sound; although I wouldn't put it in terms of race and ideology... That is to say, White people are not genetically predisposed to feeling a particular way about Chief Wahoo... lol.. But instead, that the normative culture in Cleveland is likely resistant to change, and
those folks just happen to be White by happenstance. There is a fundamental difference here, but perhaps I'm not articulating it well.
