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After decades of opposition from NFL officials, team owners, other stakeholders, and fans, the football team known as the Washington Redskins is finally getting a name change and mascot makeover.
The change saw a rush of support in the weeks following civic unrest over the police killing of George Floyd and the global reckoning with American race relations that followed.
The racial slur “redskin” is a well-documented, offensive term for Indigenous peoples. But its demise hasn’t been without controversy.
Previous attempts to encourage a new name were met with contention, based on arguments that breaking with tradition, fan affinity, and the cost of the change would be too great. But as the NFL’s position on social justice issues transitions, many viewed the continued use of a racial slur within its ranks as hypocritical at best.
Its use on team apparel, fan merchandise, official documents, and stadium complex exteriors, activists argue, actively embraces and commercializes a disturbing racial epithet.
Corporate sponsors including FedEx, Nike, Bank of America, and PepsiCo released statements and halted team merchandise sales bearing the name and or iconography. This added a financial incentive to the public pressure demanding team owners move forward with revising the name.
Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguistics expert at the University of California, Berkeley, debated in a 2016 New York Times article whether reclaimed terms such as “redskin,” “queer,” or the N-word could be protected under U.S. trademark regulations.
“It’s used in [endearment references] in that reclaimed way,” he explained, “but that doesn’t license its use by [outsider] third parties.” In other words: some Indigenous peoples might not have a problem with it, but that doesn’t mean non-Indigenous peoples can use it how they wish.
Racial issues with the Redskins actually have a long history.
For example, the Redskins’ owner refused to sign Black players for decades, reports the Wall Street Journal.
“In 1962 it became the last team to do so, signing Bobby Mitchell, after Interior Secretary Stewart Udall told Marshall he would revoke the team’s lease on its then-new stadium in Washington, D.C. unless it happened.”
History seems to have repeated itself.
Current team owner Dan Snyder has stood firm in refusal to change the name despite countless pushes, threats, and lawsuits.
But when FedEx, the stadium’s lead sponsor, penned a formal request for the name change, backed by major team sponsors representing billions of dollars, Snyder finally reconsidered.
CNN reports that the team will be recognized as The Washington Football Team temporarily. Uniforms will incorporate players’ numbers on helmets and will keep the traditional burgundy and gold color scheme until a more suitable and broadly accepted replacement can be confirmed.