Undercurrents

I can’t believe that in 2007 people still dress up in red face. Red face is the use of red pigment to make one look like a stereotyped caricature of a native American. It’s to native Americans what black face is to African Americans. It’s meant to ridicule and degrade, to amuse the dominant white majority. And from March to October, you can see on TV — every time Cleveland’s baseball team hits the field.

Maybe I’m just seeing it more now, with the Red Sox battling the Indians in the American League Championship Series, but I don’t remember fans painting their faces like this.

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Recently I borrowed a couple crudely made Hartford Whalers DVDs from my cousin. One specifically highlighted the 1986 team which stunned the hockey world with it’s end-of-season run and first round playoff dominance. Thus began the first of six straight appearances in the post-season for the Whalers, just five years into their NHL tenure. They followed up in 1987 by winning their first and only Adams Division championship, the highest achievement of the team’s too short existence. The other DVD sampled some highlights and fights from the early 1990s. The videos brought back memories. They also made me see something about the team, in particular that 1986 team, that was distinctly Hartford. It made me more than disappointed that they left Hartford, now ten years ago. It made me sad.

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