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Native America Calling: Sports teams honoring tribes
Wednesday, November 16, 2022

A promising trend: Sports teams honor tribes
At a time when some holdout sports teams ignore calls to end problematic mascots and imagery, some teams are turning to Native American designers for appropriate designs.

The NBA’s Phoenix Suns are debuting new uniforms, jersey logos and center court design created in collaboration with a Navajo artist that honors the state’s tribes and cultural references to tribes elsewhere.

Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce meets the Native artists behind the team’s graphics.

Phoenix Suns OrigiNativ
Photo courtesy NBA

A promising trend: Sports teams honor tribes
Shawn Martinez (Navajo), senior director of live presentation for the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury

Jeremy Donavan Arviso (Diné, Hopi, Pima and Tohono O’odham), artist and designer

Patrick Hunter (Ojibwe), two-spirit woodland artist and graphic designer

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