I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to the debate over the nickname of Washington’s National Football League franchise. I grew up as a New York Giants fan, and playing cowboys and redskins went right along with playing eagles. I never knew why the Washington team was called the Redskins, although it did occur to me that it was kind of an odd choice. The Giants came from the country’s largest city, the eagle is our national symbol which makes sense for the city of our founding, and naturally cowboys and Dallas go together.
Anyway, the Redskins started out as the Boston Braves. They shared a field with a pre-existing baseball team of the same name. After a while, it got confusing in the same way that it was once difficult to distinguish between baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals and football’s St. Louis Cardinals. On top of that, the owner of the Boston Braves football team decided to begin playing their games at Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox.
So, since redskins and braves are both references to Native Americans and because Red Sox and Redskins kind of go together, the name change was made. I doubt a whole lot of thought went into it. If the Red Sox had been named the Walruses, the Redskins probably would have become the Warriors.
So, I think we can eliminate original sin from our understanding of the nickname. At the time, there were Native American players on the team including, purportedly, their coach. The coach may have been lying about that, but I still don’t think it’s completely wrong to say that the nickname was in some sense about honoring Native Americans, not deliberately disrespecting them. What is clear is that the owner of the team at the time was explicit that the name was not changed to honor the coach, which is something the modern day owner and even the NFL Commissioner have been saying in defense of the nickname.
What’s also clear is that they should just change the name. Times change. People find the name offensive. They don’t care why the name was chosen. It’s nice that it wasn’t intentionally offensive, but it doesn’t matter anymore. It isn’t worth fighting to preserve the name.
As someone with deep roots in Native America and Native American activism, I can testify that many (not all) Native Americans found the name grossly offensive 25 years ago. That part hasn’t changed a bit.
what’s changed is that more non-natives – and especially more white folks – find the nickname offensive in 2014. So now it matters.
That alone pretty much undercuts the NFL, whose response for years was to trot out some native person willing to parrot the “they’re honoring us” line. But if they had any respect at all for the opinion of large numbers of Native Americans, they would have changed the name decades ago. Go to western South Dakota or Four Corners and you can still hear variations of “redskin” used as a racial slur.
But then, this is the same team that, under an old, overtly racist owner, spent a near-decade (1954-62) as the only team in the NFL that still refused to use African-American players, as a bid in pre-expansion days to be the regional NFL team for the entire Old Confederacy. That’s the “Redskins.” The oft-cited “tradition” they want to preserve is that of being the most openly racist team in North American sports. It’s a shame they can only lose a maximum of 16 times a year.
The racist past of the Redskins owner predates the Redskins guys like Snyder and I grew up with. I even lived in DC for a while as a kid and my impression of Redskins fans were not of the old Confederacy but of beltway insiders who traded influence for Skins tickets. Their persona was better exemplified by hard drinking and living guys like Kilmer, Riggins and Jergenson. And coach Allen who had to listen to play call suggestions from Nixon.
But their racist past is still a nasty fact and an important one given it is being falsely represented today to justify not changing the name. It reminds me of defenders of the South before during and after the Civil War that the North was attacking their traditions and way of life, not slavery.
The NFL owners are going to have to subsidize Snyder.
Buy out all the related unsold NFL merchandise, split the cost for all the branding/marketing logo changes and launch of the new name. The money won’t change Snyder’s mind, but it will dramatically show the public that the other owners support the name change.
And Snyder needs to do a better job than the Wizards did. Or the Pelicans, or the Hornets/Bobcats, etc.
Not the Senators, weak. Or Lobbyists, evil but not in a violent way. Patriots already taken. Federals? Spies? Bureaucrats? Generals would hit too close to their reality – although Snyder could hire Red Klotz to be the head coach – could be an improvement.
Pillagers? rhymes with Villagers and goes with sacks plus it’s in line the typical off the field hobbies of many of the players (raping).
The Washington Georges? Honor the father of our country – even if he didn’t coach as well as Paul Brown.
The Tea Party? Too controversial. The Potomacs? The Hessian Killers? Smithsonians? Emancipators? The Filibusters?
How about the Rough Riders? Defending America’s honor.
Or give up 3 first round draft picks and $600M in guaranteed money for Sam, then rename them the Rainbows. That sounds like a move Snyder could get behind.
Reading this excellent article, it’s easy to rename the team the Washington Imposters …
○ The legend of Lone Star Dietz: Redskins namesake, coach — and possible impostor?
○ Keep A-Goin’: The Life of Lone Star Dietz
○ 1916 Rose Bowl – Washington State Warriors defeat Brown in muddy battle at Pasadena CA 14-0
On the Redskins Newsfeed.
Small point: The Eagles were named for the National Recovery Administration’s Blue Eagle campaign. And they have been just about as effective.
Since Native Americans find it offensive…it is! Should have been changed years and years ago. How about the Washington G-Men?
I vote for the Washington Monuments.
They shouldn’t just change their name, they should simply fold, and the rest of the NFL with them.
Violence, CTE, and the obscene sums made by owners are enough reasons. You don’t even need to get to the racism.
A system of community-owned non-profit Ultimate Frisbee franchises should take its place.
There’s still that whole competitive, winning-and-losing issue to be hammered out, but nothing good happens overnight.
It is extremely difficult to construct a PR campaign that is more offensive than a few megawealthy white guys telling Native Americans and their supporters “We’re HONORING your ancestors by refusing to honor your request to stop using a slur against your people- shut your traps already!”
It is fitting that Frank Luntz and Lanny Davis have been bought by these slimeballs.