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 with Shawn Martinez (Navajo), senior director of live presentation for the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury; artist and designer Jeremy Donavan Arviso (Diné, Hopi, Pima and Tohono O’odham); and Patrick Hunter (Ojibwe), two-spirit woodland artist and graphic designer.