Nationality American Indian Ethnicity Aztec IndianMexica | Years active 1973–present Name Philip Yenyo | |
Full Name Philip John Yenyo Spouse(s) Doloresa Scarbro (ex-wife) (10 May 1986 - 25 August 1988) Residence Olmsted Falls, Ohio, United States | ||
Videos american indian movement s philip yenyo cleveland city councilman zack reed
Philip Yenyo is a Native American civil rights activist. He is perhaps best known for being one of several prominent American Indians to spearhead the movement against the use of Native American imagery as sports mascots.
Contents
- Videos american indian movement s philip yenyo cleveland city councilman zack reed
- Early life
- Career
- Activism
- References
Early life
Philip John Yenyo was born on 1965 October 26 to parents Adeline Ramirez and John Yenyo in Cleveland, Ohio.)
Career
Yenyo currently serves as the executive director of the state of Ohio's chapter of the American Indian Movement. He is also co-chair for The Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance. The latter organization serves as an indigenous-supportive, multicultural organization dedicated to bolstering the cultural human heritage rights of indigenous people who live in the northeast Ohio region.
Activism
Yenyo has dedicated a significant portion of resources to protesting the use of Chief Wahoo mascot by the Cleveland Indians. "I would like to see the name and logo changed. Both have to go." Of the logo, Yenyo has stated, "But I think our people and others have come to realize that this caricature of our people as a red-face, smiling savage does great harm to us and our culture and has done so for many years." “This imagery, most sports teams are named after animals and they put us in that same category. We’re human beings. We’re still a living culture and we still exist.” He has also explicated on the exploitation of other items of sacred significance to American Indian. “When we tell people that the feather is sacred to us, it’s a sacred as a Christian cross, some of them start to come around and start understanding,” he said. “When you start to explain to people how it affects us as a people and it puts us in a category with animals, they begin to see our side."