The Braves have been no stranger to this controversy. In fact, it is probably the most talked about thing related to the World Series, trumping all baseball stories and even the fact that the Houston Astros are in the Fall Classic for the first time since their cheating was exposed. I am, of course, talking about The Chop, but also about the racism that has permeated through the organization.

First off, let’s talk about where the Braves are located. For being called the Atlanta Braves, they sure do not have very many easy ways to travel to the stadium from downtown Atlanta. The Braves’ new stadium, Truist Park, is located in Cobb County, Ga. in the home district of Rep. Newt Gingrich. A place known for birthing the modern Republican movement, and one known for being an extraordinarily White suburb surrounding a major city that is 54% Black. Cobb County is 55% White, which is shocking especially when the neighborhood the Braves used to play in was a staggering 89% Black. The median household income in Cobb County is $81K, trumping the median household income for Atlanta proper, which is $47K.

Cobb County is also infamous for being hard to travel to in a traffic laden city, for one major reason: MARTA, or the lack thereof. When the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit System was proposed in the 1960s, the five major counties of the Atlanta metro were all in on the project, but Cobb County failed to pass a referendum to approve the project. When public transport primarily helps those with a low-income travel, and the city it is proposed in is simultaneously majority Black and of a lower income, it is pretty obvious what is happening here. Cobb County found it in its budget to support roads and a stadium attached to a huge entertainment complex, but not enough voters saw the benefit of making it easily accessible to the rest of Metro Atlanta.

So, the stadium does not give the brightest picture of the place the Braves decide to call their home, but back to the main reason I am writing this column: the Chop. The past few days, there has been an absolute truckload of articles and columns about the Chop, so I will keep it brief, but the truth is, if you cannot see the inherent racism in screaming in a stereotypical Native American accent was raising your right hand up and down, I do not know how to convince you that it is. The organization, and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, have gone the full gamut from showing apathy about the chant to full on approval. The only wavering they have done is when Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, raised his objections to the chant ahead of the 2019 NLDS. The Braves listened to his objections and stopped doing the chant through the rest of the series. It shouldn’t have taken an opposing pitcher raising objections to stop the chant, but it did. This story should have ended there, but it didn’t. 

When the Braves welcomed fans back to Truist Park in Cobb County this year, the Chop was back in all its glory. Before every opposing relief pitcher comes in, the lights dim, fans raise their cellphones with the flashlight on, and start doing a ridiculous, racist chant. A racist chant in a stadium that sits where the Cherokee nation used to sit, before being forcibly taken off their land and forced to Oklahoma by the Indian Removal Act. A land that was proudly theirs before the Trail of Tears.

So when the lights dim the next few nights when the Astros inevitably bring in a relief pitcher, and the fans in Truist Park inevitably start doing the Chop, remember who is affected, and have some empathy for the Native Americans in this country and that region who have suffered greatly due to the history of the United States. Remember who used to own that land, and why they were removed. Remember why there is a struggle for Black fans of the Atlanta Braves to reach the ballpark. Remember how the 2021 All Star Game was removed because the organization would not oppose Georgia’s new and discriminatory voting laws. And remember that the Braves, with all their power and all their money, do not have to keep going down this path.