The Name Change

By: Elliott M.

The Washington Football Team currently has three Super Bowl championship wins and 24 postseason appearances. The name “Redskins” had a very negative impact on the franchise ever since it was brought into the NFL because many people felt it was hatred toward the Indigenous people and it made them look like a minority. Many people were boycotting the “Redskins” and held many protests against them. The “Redskins” name is no more and currently, the team will be known as the “Washington Football Team.” A name will be decided in the future. I felt that the name had a huge impact on the NFL community and its followers.

In 1933, Washington got their first national football team from Boston. They decided to change the name from the Braves to the Redskins to “honor” the Native American tribes. When they were deciding to change the name a news article quoted team founder George Marshall saying that he named the team after specifically for their coach William Dietz, who was Native American, but it was for the other Native American players on the team at that time. Coach George Allen sat down and talked with the Red Cloud Indian Fund on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to design and finalize their new logo. The logo for the new team was created by a Native American Walter “Blackie” Weltzel to show a member of the Blackfeet Tribe. After the logo was released many of the members of the Blackfeet tribe were offended by it. They felt that it was very stereotypical of the designers to make the logo the way it was. They also felt that it brought back the history of the Natives when they were exiled out of the land by the colonial people who forced them to move out west.

Indigenous groups have asked the Washington team to change the name for the past 40 years. In 2014, a demonstration with many Native Americans and others was held outside TCF Bank Stadium in Minnesota before a game against the Vikings. Now in 2020 there have been many social justice conflicts happening in America that have to do with equality for all. On May 25, George Floyd was murdered by the Minneapolis Police because one of the officers put his knee on Floyd’s neck for about 8 minutes until he tragically passed away. This sparked outrage throughout America and spread to the other countries and they held protests to support the Black Lives Matter movement. This movement had a great impact on groups other than the community and it has connected to the Indigenous groups.

Many companies have been attacked and pressured by society to change the names and logos of different sports teams. Not only did the Washington Team’s sponsors have pressure but many other companies such as Blue-Emu and SunTrust that sponsor the baseball teams such as the Cleveland Indians and the Atlanta Braves have been pressured to change their name now. Those companies that promote and support them have been getting pressure from the civil rights groups to change them and also to drop their contract with the teams.

The name should’ve been dropped many years earlier but in the present time, it is right to change the name because of all the pressure the sponsors of the team have been receiving. The Black Lives Matter movement sparked change throughout the whole world and it has affected more sports teams and I am glad that they are in the process of change.

Student Bio

Elliott M.

2020 Summer Program

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