Washington Post Rips Chicago Blackhawks For Giving Grant Money To Tribe, Accuses Team Of Paying For Silence

The Chicago Blackhawks are gearing up to kick off their 2023-34 season on Tuesday, so what better time to publish an article criticizing the team's name, logo, and charitable contributions?

If you ask The Washington Post, there is no better time.

As woke sports writers continue to wage war on Native American-themed sports identities, The Washington Post's Kevin Blackistone has decided to put the Blackhawks in his crosshairs.

Never mind that some Native groups fighting to reinstate the former franchise names that have been changed. Blackistone knows better than everyone else that the name is offensive.

And the club's biggest crime? Giving grant money to the Sac and Fox tribe which Black Hawk — the team's namesake — led in the 19th century.

The veteran sports writer received the Sac and Fox Nation's Annual Governing Council Treasurer’s Report. In it, it was revealed that the Blackhawks organization had given $433,000.

And the problem with that is... what exactly? Well, let's let Kevin Blackistone give his take.

"That’s almost half a million dollars the Chicago team has given Sac and Fox in what looks like an attempt to purchase indigenous support for its misappropriation of Native iconography," Blackistone wrote.

He's mad because it "looks like" they're trying to purchase support? In that case, I'm mad that this article "looks like" it's trying to make a compelling point.

It could just be that the team is giving money to the Sac and Fox as part of their charitable initiatives. Every NHL team does things like that.

Meh. There's nothing to get angry over if that's the case.

The Blackhawks Outlined Their Charitable Endeavors

The Blackhawks sent a statement when asked about the contributions. Of course, they gave a lot of money that is being used for a lot of good.

“The Chicago Blackhawks Foundation offers grants to numerous organizations every year, including through our formal partnership with the Sac & Fox Nation, the ancestral tribe of our namesake Black Hawk. … Currently, our partnership and the grant dollars are focused on supporting education, veterans, health, cultural continuity, and tribal elders and allows investment in the future of the tribe."

The team also mentioned that the money is used to help fund K-12 education initiatives. They partnered with the Sac and Fox Nation to leverage their business acumen to help the tribe achieve its long-term goals.

Yeah... but their name and jerseys!!!!!

Blackistone wrote that one of the problems was how the deal with the Blackhawks was made. A small group of tribal leaders worked it on behalf of the 4,000 members of the Sac and Fox Nation.

This is pretty much how everything is done anywhere, but it still ruffled his feathers.

"It is all part of an agreement the franchise struck a year ago with Sac and Fox leadership, which is just a handful of people representing about 4,000 members mostly in Oklahoma, many of whom don’t share the leadership’s association with the hockey team," he wrote.

So, he thinks people would turn down half a million dollars in grant money because they don't like a hockey team's name? One that honors one of the most esteemed members of the tribe?

Alright, at least that's the wildest claim in the piece, right?

...Right?!

Lumping the Blackhawks' charitable contributions in with Saudi Arabia and China's penchant for sportswashing to hide human rights atrocities, is one hell of a take. (Getty Images)

Blackistone Accused Blackhawks Of Sportswashing... Y'know, Like The Saudis

The article accuses the Blackhawks of "sportswashing" which could be the wildest claim, in a piece full of wild claims.

"You know what all of this is? No matter the Chicago franchise’s argument that it is acting out of compassion, it smacks as another form of sportswashing," the piece reads. "That 21st century portmanteau that sums up how institutions treading in controversy use sport to deflect the public’s attention from what may be problematic and maybe to burnish an institution’s regard in the process."

That's one hell of a stretch.

China hosting the Olympics or the Saudis paying billions to host F1 races and sign Cristiano Ronaldo playing for a club within their borders in a bid to work some sleight-of-hand and draw attention away from blatant human rights violations? That is sportswashing.

Donating money to help fund tribal education is not

Everyone Is Supposed To Be Offended By The Things They're Told To Be Offended By

Despite railing against how offensive the Blackhawks name and logo — as well as the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Braves, which weren't mentioned directly by name in what I can only assume was an attempt to protect the innocent — there's no comment from the Sac and Fox Nation if they had a problem with the name, logo, or grant money.

The piece just assumed they were offended. Why? Because it's an Ingidgeouns tribe and therefore has to be offended by anything progressives deem problematic?

That's the woke way, assume that everyone is offended by everything all the time.

The article does mention that one member of the tribe "scoffed" at the team for facilitating the donation of a decommissioned helicopter. The unnamed person said it maybe wasn't the best idea given that the tribe didn't need a helicopter. Especially when many members are veterans dealing with PTSD.

Fair enough. But that was the only criticism from any member mentioned in the article, and the extent was a "scoffing."

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't: Just The Way Progressives Want It

Finally, the piece (which was short, mercifully) ends with a comment on what Blackistone sees as the shameful decision by the NHL to have the Blackhawks open their season the day after Indigenous Peoples' Day. That's a bizarre thing to get hung up on. This would be like getting mad Blackistone also griped that the Blackhawks, Chiefs, and Braves' charitable initiatives with tribes were about "altruism."

It's a perfect example of the way the woke left attacks issues like this. Writers like Blackistone want the name to change. Why? They say it's because it's offensive, but it sure seems like they just get off on telling people what to do.

So, they attack the issue by getting mad that the Blackhawks are making charitable contributions. Now, let's imagine the Blackhawks said, "Fine, no more giving to the Sac and Fox Nation." Imagine the number of articles screeching about how evil the Blackhawks were.

In this case, the Blackhawks are in a lose-lose situation, which is precisely what progressives want. They want people to think their only option is to bend the knee to their demands, which, of course, it isn't.

Good on the Blackhawks for sending a response and outlining the good they've been doing. That's the best way to stick it to a charity-shaming Hail Mary. Especially like The Washington Post and Blackistone threw the day before the season starts.

If it was that urgent of a matter, why not write that piece over the summer? If it was that pressing, why not sound the alarm immediately?

Because it'll get the most clicks, as the season starts, duh.

So if anyone is using the Sac and Fox Nation for their own gain, it's not the Blackhawks. It's The Washington Post.

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