Perhaps I overstated it, but I've been an Indians fan for 35 years and live within 90 miles of Cleveland, so I've witnessed the ugly battle over Chief Wahoo up close and constantly. There's a sentimentality about him in that he seemed to perfectly characterize both the success and failure of the franchise in a lovable way that people who aren't Cleveland fans may not be able to grasp. However, even if he was once considered an innocent cartoon character, he'd become outdated and inappropriate, so it was past the time to set nostalgia aside and make a clean break. I'll still be keeping my two Chief Wahoo bobbleheads, and I'm not going to rip him off the sleeve of my old Vizquel jersey, but fortunately there are a lot of us who will not wear Chief Wahoo gear to games because we don't want to be mistaken for those who think their sports fandom is more important than a race of humans.
However, the original point remains that the organization has disassociated itself from Chief Wahoo, so he's really not a part of the current issue.