Robert Roche (activist) facts for kids

Robert Roche, also known as Bob Roche and Rob Roche, is an activist for Native American civil rights. 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.

Early life

Robert Roche was born Robert Joseph Roche on 3 May 1947 at Saint Ann's Hospital located in Cleveland, Ohio. He would end up meeting Russell Means, a well-known actor, civil rights activist and founder of the Cleveland branch of the American Indian Movement. He would profoundly influence a young Roche, and the two would go on to collaborate on many projects.

Career

From 1974 to 1984, Roche worked in the City of Cleveland Juvenile Court Division as an Acting Probation Officer. During this time, he worked with indigenous youth who had come in contact with and were already in the juvenile justice system. In 1995, Robert Roche founded the American Indian Education Center, a non-profit organization that offered a variety of re-entry services for the American Indian population in the greater Greater Cleveland area, including HIV testing, tutoring, smoking cessation classes, cultural programming and resume writing instruction. in Cleveland, Ohio. Roche opened the American Indian Education Center to provide a more comprehensive variety of services after the two decades of controversy its "predecessor," the Cleveland American Indian Center, founded by Russell Means, had been embroiled in. in Cleveland, Ohio.
Robert currently serves as the executive director of the American Indian Education Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Some of the work he carried out was documented in a book written by attorney Joseph Patrick Meissner as part of a compendium of accounts focusing on people who work to improve their community. Robert Roche has also taught a course in Oberlin College's Experimental College Department about the history of the Native American civil rights organization, the American Indian Movement.

Activism

Roche was an active member of the Cleveland branch of the Autonomous American Indian Movement (AAIM) until January 2020, a separate division of the American Indian Movement.

Robert Roche has been a highly visible figure on the Cleveland scene for many decades, periodically using his role as a leader in the community to act as a character witness. He provided testimony in the clemency hearing for Billy Slagle, who was convicted of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications after, in 1987, he stabbed babysitter Mari Anne Pope to death while the children she was babysitting watched. In the appeal, Roche explained that Slagle, whose mother was Native American, visited the American Indian Education Center with his family as a child. .....

Roche worked to raise awareness for Cleveland kidnapping victim Amanda Berry, who is part Native American, by writing letters to the city police department and holding candlelight vigils for her.

Roche engaged in annual protests against Cleveland Indians mascot Chief Wahoo since 1973. He also founded the group "People, Not Mascots", a cohort which is dedicated to raise awareness against the use of a race of people as mascots and end the current use of offensive Native American imagery. As he explained, "We are not mascots. I'm nobody's mascot. My children are not mascots. "It mocks us as a race of people. It mocks our religion." Roche's protest at the Indians' 2014 home opener went viral when local blogger Peter Pattakos, who had hoped to film an argument for an anti-Chief Wahoo documentary, instead staged a confrontation by goading Pedro Rodriguez, a Latino fan wearing red face paint and a fake feather headdress, into approaching Roche on camera.

On 25 June 2014, major news media outlets began reporting that Robert Roche would file a lawsuit against the Cleveland Indians organization in July. Roche would be suing the team in excess of $9 billion. According to Roche, compensation would be sought based on the length of time and exploitation which has occurred from the use of the mascot. "We're going to be asking for $9 billion and we're basing it on a hundred years of disparity, racism, exploitation and profiteering," Roche said. "It's been offensive since day one. We are not mascots. My children are not mascots. We are people."

See also

• American Indian Movement
• Chief Wahoo
• Native American mascot controversy
• Philip Joseph Yenyo
• Sundance