NFL outfit Kansas City Chiefs and MLB team Kansas City Royals celebrated the Indigenous Peoples Day ahead of the former’s Monday Night Football game against the Las Vegas Raiders at the Arrowhead Stadium. 

Royals shortstop and third baseman Bobby Witt Jr banged the Arrowhead drum as fans cheered in the stands. 

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Ahead of the game, the Chiefs had announced that they joined people across the country in honouring and celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday. 

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“We continue to have important dialogue with local and national groups to identify ways to educate ourselves and our fans by raising awareness of American Indian communities and their rich traditions,” the statement said.

The team further added that it looks ‘forward to celebrating American Indian Heritage Month at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, November 27’, when they take on the Los Angeles Rams.

A group of Native American leaders planned to protest outside the GEHA Field at the Arrowhead Stadium. The association has gathered more than 14,000 signatures for an online petition calling for the Chiefs to change their name. 

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Cheifs decided to no longer allow fans to wear ‘headdresses and face paint styled in a way that references or appropriates American Indian cultures’, the petition reads. It adds that the team is a vehicle of institutionalized racism. 

Meanwhile, Grammy winning artist Erica Campbell sung the national anthem and the Overland Park Police Department presented the colours. Wings of Blue, the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Parachute team also had a pregame performance.

“Halftime will include a Crucial Catch Tribute, with Crucial Catch ribbons, that will feature seven survivors and their doctors from TUKHS, one representing all seven of the screenable cancers,” the Chiefs said ahead of the game.