Braves Host First 'Cherokee Traditions At Truist Park' Event

COBB COUNTY, GA — The Atlanta Braves and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians this weekend held the first event to showcase Cherokee customs and traditions amid lingering controversy about Braves name and Tomahawk chop that's made headlines across the country amid the World Series.

While some Native American leaders have pushed professional sports teams to do away with the use of tribes as mascots — such as the Washington Football Team dropping its old name, the Redskins — the principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians said the Braves name isn't the most important issue for him.

Dozens of Cherokee men took the field at Truist Park on Saturday to play stickball — an ancient, Native American sport known as the "Little Brother of War" as a means of settling disputes — that marked the main event of the Braves' four-hour celebration of Cherokee culture, the Marietta Daily Journal reported. It's the first time stickball has ever been played at Truist Park.

Additionally, members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians — one of the three federally-recognized Cherokee tribes — sold sage, hand-woven belts, dreamcatchers, language books and other items along the stadium's concourse. The Raven Rock Dancers also performed several traditional Cherokee dances.

More than 3,500 ticket reservations were made, multiple news outlets reported.

Braves CEO Derek Schiller called the program "another step in our ongoing efforts to educate ourselves and our fans on the culture and traditions of our Native American neighbors," according to the MDJ.

North Georgia was occupied by the Cherokee Indians until the mid-1800s, when most of them were forcibly removed and taken to reservations west of the Mississippi River during the infamous Trail of Tears, according to the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee.

"We saw this as an opportunity for education and open dialogue about Native issues, and educating people about Native issues and our history and our story," said Richard Sneed, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, to the MDJ.

As the Braves entered the World Series this year, Sneed said reporters called from all over the country seeking comment on the Braves' name — a name for Native American warriors — and fans performing the Tomahawk chop. He said he doesn't believe either is racist, but others don't agree.

Sneed has previously said Native Americans have more pressing issues than a team name or Tomahawk chop, including poverty, high rates of suicide and sexual assault and an inability to prosecute non-Native people who commit crimes on tribal land.

“I’m not offended by somebody waving their arm at a sports game,” Sneed told the Associated Press in October. “I’m just not. If somebody is, that’s their prerogative, it’s their right. They can be offended. ... I don’t know very many, maybe one or two, from my tribe who say, ‘Yeah, I don’t like that.’ But at the end of the day, we’ve got bigger issues to deal with.”

“There’s just so much happening and the frustrating part for me as a tribal leader is when the only issue that seems to be discussed is ... ‘How offended are you by the chop and should the Braves change their name?’ ... Really, it’s the least of our problems, I guess is what I’m saying.”

With Native Americans making up less than 3 percent of the nation's total population, some Native Americans say it can be easy for the outside world to marginalize them.

"Our major goal is to have this annually to not only build it to bring in all native artists but maybe open it up to other native communities that have a form of stickball that they would like to have showcased. That way this community here in Georgia can see the variations of how we are uniquely different, but how we have our own customs," said Laura Blythe of the Qualla Boundary during the event, according to WGXA News.