The Portland Winterhawks rolled out a new logo earlier this month. The image of a hawk replaces the old logo, a racist caricature of a Native American man. Even though Native Americans and others in the community had been pushing for this change for some time, the junior ice hockey team did not acknowledge a reason for the change beyond needing “something that better represented the team.” Paul Lumley is the executive director of the Portland-based Native American Youth and Family Center and led the effort to get rid of the offensive Winterhawks mascot. He says that while the change is welcome, he’s disappointed that the team is not acknowledging the harm caused by the old mascot.

We hear what these kinds of changes mean to Indigenous Americans and tribal nations. We talk with Lumley and hear from Cynthia Connolly, who is on the executive board of the Lake Erie Native American Council and was part of the effort to get Cleveland's professional baseball team to change its name and logo.