c. 1998 Religion News Service

CLEVELAND _ A Cleveland judge Tuesday (April 7) dismissed charges against three American Indian activists, including a United Church of Christ official, saying city prosecutors failed to prove the trio broke any laws at a 1997 World Series baseball game where they protested the Cleveland Indians use of the Chief Wahoo caricature.

The use of American Indian caricatures and symbolic artifacts such as tomahawks in some major league baseball and football cities such as Cleveland, Washington, and Atlanta, has drawn protests from religious and American Indian groups for more than a decade.

In a separate but related development, a federal judge in Los Angeles released a ruling Monday (April 6) clearing the way for the Los Angeles Unified School District to proceed with its policy of banning Indian mascots at its school.

The 1997 demonstration at the World Series in Cleveland was among the most visible and vocal of the protests.

All three of the protesters said they would be at the Indians’ home opener Friday (April 10), taking up where they left off in October when they were arrested.

Their lawyer said the issue was free speech on public land. City prosecutors said it was a matter of their misconduct, and not a larger constitutional question or one of historic injustice.

Among the three was Juanita J. Helphrey, 57, a racial justice advocate with the UCC’s Board for Homeland Ministries. The board is helping with the protesters legal costs and has started a Legal Defense Fund for Indigenous People Resisting Racism.

In 1991, the General Synod of the Cleveland-headquartered denomination went on record opposing the”negative stereotyping”of American Indians in sports and commerce.

The other two protesters were Vernon Bellecourt, 66, of Minneapolis, a longtime Indian activist, and Juan Reyna, 52, of Cleveland, head of the local Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance.

Bellecourt was charged with criminal damaging and resisting arrest in the incident. Prosecutors said he struggled with police arresting him after he burned an effigy of Chief Wahoo, hanging from a tree outside Jacobs Field.

Helphrey and Reyna were charged with criminal trespass and aggravated disorderly conduct. They were arrested because police said they refused to leave areas where they were protesting after authorities directed them to places were they said public protests were allowed.

Municipal Judge Kathleen Ann Keough issued her ruling _ a directed verdict issued while the jury was not in the room _ after prosecutors rested Tuesday morning, and before defense attorney Terry Gilbert offered any evidence.

Gilbert had argued the defendants were exercising their right to free speech on public property outside of a sports facility built by and for the taxpayers of Cuyahoga County.

Assistant City Prosecutor Reuben Sheperd said a tree was damaged by the burning of Chief Wahoo, and the burning occurred near a tank of helium, which could have exploded. He said the protesters”did not go peaceably”after police told them to move.

Bellecourt said at the beginning of trial last week that his burning of the Chief Wahoo effigy was as protected as burning a U.S. flag, which he said he would never consider.

On Monday, when prospective jurors were being questioned, Bellecourt asked how many would be offended if the baseball team had the name”Cleveland Negroes”and a symbol like”Little Black Sambo.”He received a nearly unanimous show of hands.

Keough said there was no evidence to show Helphrey was guilty of aggravated disorderly conduct or criminal trespass. She said the same of Reyna, noting his actions were”recognized as a protected activity.” As for Bellecourt’s burning of the effigy, the judge said the city failed to show there was”substantial risk or harm.”Bellecourt said he had been arrested at least a dozen times in the last 25 years but never convicted.”Let’s get ready for Friday,”he said after the decision.

DEA END EWINGER