The Blackhawks announced several initiatives Wednesday designed to better honor the Native American culture their name references.
Most notably, the Hawks will ban headdresses at all future games at the United Center.
“These symbols are sacred, traditionally reserved for leaders who have earned a place of great respect in their Tribe, and should not be generalized or used as a costume or for everyday wear,” the team said in a statement.
Headdresses used to be a common sight at Hawks games around the 2010 Stanley Cup run, and although they’ve been discouraged by the team and therefore become less common in recent years, they weren’t officially banned as recently as this past season.
The Hawks also broadly described intentions to more thoroughly incorporate Native American culture and education into the United Center and their in-game presentation there.
The team occasionally hosts Native American leaders for pregame ovations or intermission performances, but such events are somewhat infrequent. The arena itself currently contains very few references to Native Americans or the 1800s Sauk tribe leader Black Hawk for which the franchise is named.
It sounds as though the team plans to change that moving forward.
“These efforts will continue to honor Native American contributions to our society...as well as showcase that those achievements are not limited to history books and museums but thriving right now within our military, business, the arts and more,” the team said.
The Hawks also announced that they’re working with Trickster Cultural Center, a Native American arts center and museum in suburban Schaumburg, to build a new Blackhawks-sponsored wing of the building.
The wing will “will include Native American artifacts from their vast collection and integrate a greater use of technology to create an interactive space for students throughout Chicagoland,” the team said.
Wednesday’s announcements come after the Hawks said earlier this month that they’d keep their name and logo. That announcement, in turn, came after the NFL’s Washington franchise began the process of moving on from their former Redskins nickname.
