Office personnel for the San Francisco Giants are mulling a dress code policy for fans that would ban them from wearing certain items deemed offensive, such as fake Indian headdresses and other culturally-tied apparel.
The policy, still in the formative stages, is touted as a simple expansion of the club’s prohibitions on offensive language and signs, USA Today reported.
“We are considering expanding the policy to be more explicit about culturally insensitive signs and articles of clothing,” said Staci Slaughter, the team’s senior vice president for communications, USA Today reported. “I don’t want to overstate where we are. We haven’t finalized the language. We are still in the process of revising it.”
The idea for the policy came after two Native Americans told a group of men at a recent Giants game that the headdress they were passing around was disrespectful. One of the Native Americans asked to hold the fake headdress, then refused to give it back, USA Today reported. The incident occurred on the ballpark’s Native American Heritage Night.
“We met with some folks as a result of the incident,” Ms. Slaughter said. “What we’re looking at is not just specific to Native Americans. We have a desire to educate folks. The reason we do these heritage nights is to raise the awareness of the diversity of our region.”
Some fans and rights groups see the policy as welcome.
“It is not acceptable for anyone to wear blackface anymore,” Jacqueline Keeler, a founder of Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, told USA Today. “So why is it acceptable for fans to come to stadiums dressed in reface? The clowning of our culture must stop.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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