Oklahoma
Oklahoma tribes demand apology from Atlanta Braves over ‘tribe night’ at baseball game
OKLAHOMA CITY — A group of prominent Oklahoma-based tribal officials are demanding an apology from the Atlanta Braves after the team celebrated “Georgia Tribe Night” at its stadium last month.
Leaders of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Tribes announced Tuesday that they had passed a resolution calling on the Major League Baseball team to apologize for “honoring fraudulent groups that pose as tribes without federal recognition” and urging the team to conduct “meaningful consultations” with federally recognized tribes on “how to properly engage with Native Americans.”
The Council, which is composed of leaders from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole nations, represents about 815,000 Indigenous citizens across the United States.
On June 29, the Braves posted on X that the team was “honored to welcome representatives from Native American groups in the state of Georgia, including the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns, the Cherokee of Georgia Tribal Council, the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee and the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe.”
Three tribes honored by Atlanta Braves are not federally recognized, but are recognized by the state
There are 574 federally recognized tribes and Alaska Natives tribes, including the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina.
The three tribes honored by the Braves are not among them. They are state-recognized by the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns, a nine-member legislatively created body tasked with addressing the “concerns of Georgia’s American Indians.”
An email to a Braves spokesperson seeking comment was not returned.
More: Citizens of these five Oklahoma tribes can now hunt, fish on reservation lands
Chuck Hoskin Jr., Cherokee Nation principal chief, said for a corporation like the Atlanta Braves baseball team to elevate — on his tribe’s own historic homelands — organizations that are “posing as Cherokee tribes” is “offensive” and “tone deaf at a minimum.”
The Tribes’ resolution notes that their ancestral lands covered most of the southeastern United States, including Georgia and the Atlanta area. The tribes were forcibly removed by the government.
He said the Braves already have a troubled history with how they depict Native American culture, particularly through their fans’ use of the “Tomahawk chop” gesture and use of the weapon in its branding.
Atlanta Braves have resisted calls to change name, fake battle cry
The team’s name, “Tomahawk chop” and fake battle cry have all generated controversy and outrage among Indigenous groups and advocates, who claim it supports racist stereotypes and does not accurately reflect Native culture.
And while the Washington Commanders football team and the Cleveland Guardians baseball team have changed their names in recent years, the Braves have resisted calls to do the same.
Hoskin said the Braves’ decision to host the tribe night event seemingly doubles down on the team’s indifference on issues important to Native communities, which include sovereignty and their unique cultures.
“What the crowd is not understanding is that in doing so (promoting these groups), the Atlanta Braves are offending actual Indian tribes that represent actual Indians that have an actual demonstrable history of suffering with the state of Georgia,” Hoskin said. “But I think in doing so, they misplaced their resources and efforts. If they really wanted some healing, they know where to find us.”
‘We are trying to really correct centuries of misinformation’
He said efforts by the Georgia Legislature to give the three groups recognition does not make them tribal entities and there’s no viable standard to create “a state tribe.”
Hoskin said the Braves’ decision to classify the groups as “Cherokee” undermines a generations-long effort on the behalf of federally recognized Cherokee people to remind the country about their forcible removal and that 468,000 Cherokee citizens live across the nation. An estimated 2,400 of them reside in Georgia.
“We are trying to really correct centuries of misinformation, sometimes intentional, sometimes whitewashing history, and it becomes more difficult when these organizations exist and when a multi-million dollar corporation with a great deal of power, and frankly, a great deal of responsibility, that its not exercising, enables this falsehood in front of tens of thousands of people,” Hoskin said. “It’s offensive.”
Rhonda Bennett, council chair for the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee and who serves on the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns, said she doesn’t believe the Braves owe an apology.
“We are honored for the recognition,” Bennett said.
She said the tribe’s ancestors remained in North Georgia after the forced removal of the Cherokee to Oklahoma Territory.
The tribe fought for federal recognition for nearly 45 years, but were denied mainly because they could not prove they assembled after the removal, Bennett said. Tribal citizens faced prison time, expulsion to Oklahoma or death if they violated a state law banning assembly.
Many of its 700 present-day citizens hold a direct lineage to the first chief justice of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court in Indian Territory, she said.
“It’s a very sad story,” she said of Cherokee history. “Fighting among each other is just a sadder story.”
Her ancestors faced decades of discrimination by Georgia officials.
“It seems like since the 1800s, the Cherokee have had to fight against someone. We certainly do not want to fight amongst each other,” Bennett said. “What we want is our Tribe and the Tribe’s heritage to be preserved and recognized, and we want to be at peace with the Cherokee Nation.”
She said she holds out hope that one day Hoskin will want to meet with her to talk about what unites them and their shared Cherokee heritage.
“We are still here, and we have been throughout time immemorial,” Bennett said.
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and Twitter.
PORTAL TRACKER
Oklahoma State’s newly constructed staff got on the board Saturday, picking up portal commitments on offense and special special teams, so how about some defense?
Three Big 12 defenders have been linked with Oklahoma State via the transfer portal over the past few days, including a pair of former OK Preps standouts. Here’s a look.
Kanijal Thomas, CB, Kansas State
Thomas is an Oklahoman, playing his high school ball at Del City. He visited Stillwater on Saturday, according to On3.
He was a redshirt sophomore for the Wildcats in 2025, playing in seven games as a true freshman in 2023 before an injury saw his sophomore season end two games in.
Thomas played in eight games at K-State in 2025, finishing the year with five tackles, a PBU and a forced fumble. According to PFF, he gave up four catches for 21 yards this season on seven targets.
Now listed at 5-foot-11, 186 pounds, Thomas was a three-star prospect coming out of Del City in the 2023 class. He picked K-State over offers from OSU, Texas Tech, Iowa State and others.
Maurion Horn, CB, Texas Tech
Another Oklahoma kid, Maurion Horn has spent the past four seasons in Lubbock, where he has played in 30 games during that time. According to 247Sports, Horn will visit Stillwater on Monday.
He started all of Tech’s games in 2024, finishing that season with 56 tackles, three tackles for loss and five pass breakups. He played in seven games and dealt with some sort of injury, appearing on Tech’s availability report in Weeks 4, 14 and 15.
Horn has been targeted 88 times in his career, per PFF, where he has allowed just 47 catches.
He was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class out of Broken Arrow. He ended up picking Tech over offers from OSU, OU, Texas, Baylor, Arkansas and others.
Braylon Rigsby, Edge, Texas Tech
Listed at 6-foot-2, 275 pounds, Braylon Rigsby will join his Texas Tech teammate in Stillwater on Monday, according to 247Sports.
He’s played in 26 games across the past two seasons in Lubbock, accumulating 25 tackles and three tackles for loss during that time.
Per PFF, Rigsby has 21 QB pressures in his career to go with two QB hits.
He hails from Woodsville, Texas, which is near the Louisiana border. Rigsby was a three-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, coming in as the No. 861 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking.
Elite Delta Force captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife about 2 a.m. Saturday morning.
It happened in the Caracas, the capitol of Venezuela.
Social media posts how strikes ordered by President Trump into Venezuela and its military bases.
News 9 political analyst Scott Mitchell said the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America has not always been smooth and adds so many dominos will fall as a result.
“Venezuela is the beachhead for our adversaries that’s Cuba and Russia and China and Iran and it looks as if this latest situation where that they were assembling Iran swift attack boats that was sort of the last straw,” said Mitchell.
Retired war correspondent Mike Boettcher said the planning on capturing Maduro began in mid-December.
He adds Venezuela is a massive oil supplier whose oil has been taken off the market for years because of sanctions.
He has concerns about what comes next.
“That disrupts a lot of things.It even has an effect on the war in Ukraine, as Russia, you know, has used higher oil revenue because Venezuela’s oil was off the market.Oil prices went up.It helps fund the war in Ukraine,” said Boettcher.
The ramifications could even reach Oklahoma.
“China gets a 30 percent discount on the oil.If Venezuela goes for a more legitimate government and the sanctions are lifting, then they’re flooding the oil markets and that means bad news for the Oklahoma economy,” added Mitchell.
Following the capture of Maduro, President Trump said the U.S. will take control of the oil reserves in Venezuela.
Sources also say there are plans from the current administration to recruit American companies to invest billions of dollars in their oil industry.
A verified video shows the current state of Venezuela after the military operation.
Oklahoma State EDGE Kyran Duhon plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned. Duhon was a member of the 2024 recruiting class.
Duhon spent one year at Oklahoma State, logged 16 total tackles (eight solo) across nine games. He began his career at UTEP, where he had a productive true freshman season, Duhon finished 2024 with 43 total tackles, including seven sacks and two PBUs.
At UTEP, his one season there resulted in second team All-Conference USA honors. He was also named to the On3 True Freshman All-America Team as well as the the Conference USA All-Freshman team.
However, Duhon’s stay in Stillwater didn’t go as expected. Oklahoma State finished the season with a 1-11 record, which included the Cowboys firing longtime head coach Mike Gundy after a 1-2 start. Doug Meacham was named interim head coach but ended the year 0-9.
Eric Morris has since been named as the program’s next head coach. He comes from North Texas, which finished with an 11-2 record and a trip to the American Conference championship game this past season. However, it doesn’t appear that Duhon will be sticking around during the changing of the guard at Oklahoma State this offseason.
Before college, Duhon was the No. 1,706 overall player in the class, and was recruited as the the No. 165 linebacker during the cycle, per the Rivals Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was ranked as the No. 242 overall player out of Texas.
Once the NCAA transfer portal opens on Jan. 2, players can officially enter their names in the NCAA transfer portal and go on to initiate contact with their preferred schools. The portal will be open for 15 days and close on Jan. 16.
Notably, players who are on teams competing in the national championship game are allowed five extra days to make their portal decision. The College Football Playoff championship game will be played on Jan. 19, so the players on those teams will be allowed until Jan. 24 to enter the portal and choose their next school.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
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