Chop, Chop

I love baseball. Growing up in a multi-generational house, where I spent a great deal of time with my grandfather, a man raised during the Golden Age of baseball from the 1920s to the 1950s, watching and admiring baseball came with the territory. I also love the Atlanta Braves, and watching them with my grandfather is one of my most cherished memories. It was especially great to see them beat the Yankee teams. One thing I enjoy about the Braves (still to this day) is they are “Dixie’s team,” particularly during their 1990s heyday.

Then, as in now, there were no MLB teams in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, or New Orleans, meaning people from those states tended to gravitate toward the Braves. In those days, there also wasn’t a team in Washington, D.C. Even Florida lacked any teams in 1991, the year the Braves broke through. Miami would not get a team until 1993, and that was Miami, even then the city was essentially a Yankee/Caribbean colony. Tampa would not get a team until 1998. For most of Dixie, the Braves were the closest we had to “our team.” Sure, there were exceptions. Many older Southerners, not to mention Missourians, and Arkansans, cheered for the Cardinals, the first case being a holdover from the days when St. Louis was the Southernmost team in MLB. Plus, Maryland had the Orioles, while North Texas and Oklahoma had the Rangers, and the rest of Texas had the Astros. There were also Reds fans in Kentucky, and Pirates fans in West Virginia; however, for the most part, Southerners were united behind the Braves.

Even back in the 1990s, there was controversy over the team’s name, and it was a controversy I vividly remember. The team had already given some concessions to the mob, Chief Noc-A-Homa was gone, as was the original “Screaming Indian” logo, but these occurred during a time when a single sign of weakness would not result in total defeat, the team’s name and even the famous “tomahawk chop” remained. But, that was not enough. As it turned out, the 1995 World Series pitted the Braves against the Cleveland Indians, and protests erupted. Leftists converged on both Cleveland and Atlanta, protesting what they called the “World Series of Racism.” Eventually, the Indians caved and became the Guardians. The Braves remain.

As always, the Left is putting more pressure on the Braves to change their name. Fortunately, by now normies have learned their lesson, and even conceding to leftists demands, like banning the “tomahawk chop” at games, will only result in the mob becoming hellbent on the entirety of its target. The Left is not deterred and recently even the White House has stepped in, asking for a “conversation” about changing the name, which translates to “let us do what we want.” But nothing happens in a vacuum, there is something larger going on here, and that is the two statewide elections in Georgia, both of which will determine the future of Georgia – the gubernatorial election (Kemp vs. Abrams) and the senatorial election (Warnock vs. Walker).

Per polling, it looks as if Kemp will win, though there is still a probable chance for an Abrams victory. The Warnock/Walker race looks to be closer, though I suspect Warnock will win. Georgia is tilting more and more demographically to favor the Democrats. The GOP might win both of these races because of the disaster that is the Biden Administration. But if the GOP only wins the governor’s race, it will be because just enough black men will not vote for a black woman and Walker’s incompetence. Either way, turnout is key and will largely fall along racial lines.

In this article, my aim is to examine why the White House is stepping into this issue, and the impact it can have on the elections in November.

Unite the Rainbow

In the long-term, Georgia is trending blue; as of right now, it is a purple state with a relatively inelastic electorate – meaning very few voters will switch parties, they are locked into the party they normally vote for. And while this is less true for Georgia than it is for Alabama or Mississippi, thanks to an influx of liberal Yankees, this does fall along racial lines. This means turnout will be critical to winning any election. Because of the demographics of Georgia, Democrats can win an election by running up the black vote, which combined with Hispanics and Yankees, can give the Democrats a consistent, if narrow, victory. This all matters because of black men. The only reason Stacey Abrams was not elected governor in 2018 is because just enough black men did not vote or voted for Kemp. Obviously, the latter was miniscule, but in a close election, it mattered. Black men will turn out to vote for a black man, but not a black woman, hence why Warnock is senator and will likely win his election, and Abrams is not governor and will probably not win hers. The strategy here is to turn out enough black men to give Abrams the edge. By raising this Atlanta Braves issue, the White House hopes to make race a topic, which will drum up the black male vote. And while I think some in the Biden Administration believe this will work, I am skeptical.

The problem Abrams, Warnock, and Biden have is that most blacks are not bothered by racism in the abstract, but rather racism against black people. Discrimination against other races is not really a factor. I am not talking about just anti-White racism, though that is an ingredient, most blacks are not all that bothered by racism directed at other races, hence why immigration restriction is relatively popular with rank-and-file blacks, and more troubling is why the “knock-out game” is a criminal activity mostly played by black perpetrators. When the media was trying to create a moral panic (directed against the specter of “White Supremacy”) regarding anti-Asian hate crimes, it was clear who was committing them.

Thus, I am doubtful this will work, most blacks do not care if something is racist against Indians. To make matters even worse for Abrams, Biden, and co., is the fact that this is about sports, and one of the most popular teams in the country. There is a significant chance that this will backfire. In a state as close as Georgia is, at least for now, every little swing counts. I feel confident that any voter who wants the Braves to change their name is guaranteed to be voting for Abrams and Warnock. But is does not follow that Kemp and Walker can expect the same level of support from those who oppose a name change. However, making the Braves a voting issue will not bring the Democrats new voters, not only are the people who support a name change already solid progressives, they are also politically engaged. Those who oppose a name change may not vote Republican at the same level, and will be less politically engaged. Although, making this an issue could send enough voters to the GOP to sink Abrams and flip the Senate seat.

Just because it’s a bad idea does not mean that it will deter the White House. Besides, this is also a preview in how they will manage an election in the future, by rallying their voters against a traditional aspect of White culture, and baseball is part of traditional White culture.

Joe Machiavelli

Something else that can be at play is that Biden is hoping to sink Abrams, and especially Warnock, by making them take sides on an unpopular issue. I doubt this is what is happening, but I do want to lay out the mindset that could lead to the Biden Administration taking this strategy. First on the macrolevel – as of right now, the Democrats need the GOP to be enough of a force that they can point to the Republicans as obstructionists to get the Far Left off their backs. If the Democrats were to gain enough seats in the Senate to do whatever they wanted, and also had the House and the presidency, Biden would be required to start giving the radicals what they want. The problem with this is that the White population is still large enough to be a spoiler and create a major midterm backlash (like in 2010). Biden wants to play the long game, but radicals like “The Squad” do not, they want radical leftwing policies, and they want them now. They want revenge on White America, and they want it now. If the Democrats are forced to give in, then Biden knows that the backlash may result in a second Trump term or even DeSantis presidency. Or, if things really got bad enough, even a Franco-type figure.

Next, there are more personal considerations for Biden. Biden wants to remain as president, he ran enough times to reveal that this is a long-standing dream of his, and now that he finally has it in the twilight of his life, I do not think he will step down and give it up. For the young radicals around him, this cannot be. Biden is a White male, and one that used to run as a moderate (even conservative) Democrat. They expect him to step down and let a woman or some kind of racial/sexual minority run in his place. The major problem there – it is not clear if anyone can really beat Biden again in the primary. Gavin Newsom and Bernie Sanders have the same demographic problems Biden has, but at least Joe Biden can count on a large segment of the black vote thanks to his association with Obama. Harris might do it, but I think running against her old boss would be a bad look. Plus, as has already been discussed before, black men will not turn out for a black woman. Buttigieg has been floated as a candidate, too, but Biden’s black firewall comes back into play. Blacks will not vote for Buttigieg, and we all know why. And in the case of Clinton, far too many Democrats fear she’ll make the same errors she made in 2016.

But if Warnock were to run, he could beat Biden in the primary. Biden’s firewall would disappear overnight. Hear me out, if Warnock wins in 2022, he will be president, unless he were to run in a year that is incredibly unfavorable to the Democrats, similar to how adverse 2008 was to the GOP, and Warnock does not strike me as a guy who would sacrifice his career like McCain did. I do not want this to happen, but he will be the next Obama. If Walker were to somehow pull off a victory, Warnock would be done as a threat, he could not pose a serious primary challenge in 2024. And, what better way to torpedo Warnock than to make him publicly state that the most popular team in the city, one that has given Atlanta its only major sports championship and may do so again, needs to change their name?

Let me state again that I think it is unlikely that this is the case. Biden has every right to fear a Warnock challenge, but many of those around Biden have no such hesitation and would even welcome it, but I do think this needs to be mentioned as a possibility.

The Power Play

Here, the attempt to raise the name change issue is not the White House trying to build a rainbow of diversity against racism, or some kind of Machiavellian scheme, but rather simply a power move against White America. In the wake of the George Floyd riots, both the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians changed their name. The Left had been claiming for years that those teams were a special case of racism because “redskin” is a slur and “Indian” is outdated. I did not like that the names were changed, but let’s accept the Left’s premise for the sake of argument. By doing so, “Braves” still does not fit. Brave is a class of warrior, there is no difference between a team called the “Braves” and a team called the “Knights.” By bringing up the issue, the White House might be trying to just force it, and let White America know who is really in charge now. Something that has been part of American culture for over a century will now be forced into a bind at the whims of our new masters.

Should the Braves ever give in, that would leave two major sports teams with an American Indian themed name left – the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Blackhawks (the Golden State Warriors used to be an example, but they removed the imagery from their identity decades ago). If the Braves go, I don’t see the Chiefs lasting much longer. The Blackhawks warrant some additional thought. Though the Blackhawks sport an American Indian themed logo and name, they are not actually named after the historic chief (Black Hawk, born Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, was a Sauk leader and warrior who lived in what is now the Midwestern United States), but rather the original owner’s military unit in World War I. More importantly, the Blackhawks are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, and quite a bit of marketing goes into that fact. The Blackhawks are counted as one of the “Original Six.” As of now, the Blackhawks have flown under the radar, at least in terms of the wider controversy, largely thanks to hockey’s limited popularity in the United States. With the Braves gone, all the Left’s furry would turn to the Blackhawks, and I don’t think they would survive the pressure. That the NHL is still overwhelmingly White would add more fuel to the fire.

Adding to this, Canada, where hockey is quite popular and where the NHL is based, is governed by the same anti-White forces that govern the American Empire; and while the anti-White regime in the U.S. mostly focuses on blacks, in Canada they center on Indian issues. Once the Blackhawks are scalped, the Left will know that there is very little that remains of Heritage America, and Canada for that matter. 

What is most troubling about this, is that while I think forcing the issue of a name change is a bad strategy to help Democrats, and I doubt it’s some kind of Machiavellian scheme to end the career of a potential primary challenger, I can think of no significant reason as to why this cannot be a simple move against White America. The Left has already gone far further than I ever imagined they would, even in the dark days right after the Charleston shooting or UTR (“Unite the Right”).  

Fortunately, not all is lost. More and more normies are realizing what is at stake. Most now realize that apologizing and giving in will only make the problem worse. As much as I would welcome it, I doubt the Braves will bring back Chief Nok-A-Homa or retire John Rocker’s number, but despite the likely power move being used against Georgia right now, it does not appear that the team will fold. And if they do, their fanbase will revolt against it, they have learned their lesson even if the team’s management has not.

Members of the Dissident Right that roll their eyes at “sportsball” do not realize how important sports are, they are included in a people’s identity. There is a reason Southerners cheered for the Crimson Tide as they took on the Washington Huskies – it was understood as a long-awaited payback for the War. Baseball is also a part of that culture, and why my granddaddy, and likely yours as well, loved the game so much. By attacking baseball, especially a team as storied as the Braves, the Left is assaulting Heritage America, and in this case, Dixie.

Even with the addition of new teams since the early 1990s, the Braves are still the South’s team. The Right cannot afford to dismiss this as just a game, it really is more than just baseball.