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Washington Redskins to change their name

lordromford
lordromford Posts: 7,782
edited July 2020 in Other Football and Sports
A bit of a thorny issue for some on this side of the pond.
Quite a few major sports franchises here have names related to native Americans - examples being the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves in baseball and the Kansas City Chiefs in NFL.
But the most controversial for many years has been my local NFL team, the Washington Redskins. They’ve been under intense pressure for years to change the name, but owner Daniel Snyder has always resisted - until now. 
One reason the Redskins have had more pressure than those other franchises is due to the perceived derogatory nature of the name. (On a lesser level, there are active groups campaigning for the Indians to change their name for similar reasons. The Chiefs and Braves are also under pressure, but it is significantly less intense, possibly due to their more positive names.)

It appears that the George Floyd incident and the raised focus on racism in recent weeks has ramped the pressure on the Redskins up further, with major sponsors, led by FedEx and PepsiCo threatening to withdraw funding if the team name remained unchanged. And the pressure has now resulted in Snyder having to concede defeat. A new name has not yet been announced, but there have been emotional reactions from those on both sides of the debate.

I know some of you lot like a bit of NFL, but even if you don’t - what are your thoughts on this?

Edit: For what it’s worth, my view is that they should’ve changed the name years ago and Snyder has been deliberately unreasonable and obnoxious about it. Why, I don’t know. I do know that he’ll be furious that he’s lost this battle.

CNN report:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/us/washington-redskins-nickname-change-spt/index.html

BBC report:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53390944

Local tv station gets views from fans:
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/redskins-fans-washington-nfl-team-mixed-reaction-name-change/33298417#

Fox reports on Trump’s opinion:
«1345

Comments

  • rina
    rina Posts: 2,334
    Last team to ever beat the Redskins? Yep, it's the Cowboys
  • Garrymanilow
    Garrymanilow Posts: 13,167
    Took them long enough. Keeping a slur as their name never made any sense other than just refusing to bow to public pressure, which is dumb. It's not like NFL teams are super protective of their history; franchises move hundreds of miles to other states if there's more money in it for them. Basically the owner has now reached a point where the political situation is too heavy for him to continue to be a dick.
  • Henry Irving
    Henry Irving Posts: 85,219
    Washington Redtails sounds good and has a good history.

    Not going to post it but been a long running campaign to get the Cleveland Indians baseball team to change their logo.

    Search New York Jews/San Francisco Chinaman logos to get the point.
  • lordromford
    lordromford Posts: 7,782
    edited July 2020
    Henry Irving said:
    Washington Redtails sounds good and has a good history.

    Not going to post it but been a long running campaign to get the Cleveland Indians baseball team to change their logo.

    Search New York Jews/San Francisco Chinaman logos to get the point.
    Yeah, the Indians have always been under similar pressure, but have always been able to (at least to an extent) dodge the spotlight due to the name “Redskins“ being a more obvious slur.
    It’s no surprise that the Indians are considering a name change too.

    (And in an odd twist, I happen to be away from Washington at the moment - staying in a place near Lake Erie - about 15 miles from Cleveland!)
  • killerandflash
    killerandflash Posts: 69,842
    Get a sponsorship deal and call themselves the Washington Red Bulls...
  • Cordoban Addick
    Cordoban Addick Posts: 5,448
    How about Washington Redcoats?
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,763
    Heard they want to go for Washington Redwolves but there’s some licensing issues with a college team.
  • Off_it
    Off_it Posts: 28,845
    edited July 2020
    When I heard on the news earlier that they were changing their name to fit in with modern views I assumed it was the reference to the racist colonial slave-owning Freemason traitor they were getting rid of.
     
  • soapy_jones
    soapy_jones Posts: 21,350
    Yep.  Red lives matter n'all...
  • RedChaser
    RedChaser Posts: 19,885
    Cordoban Addick said:
    How about Washington Redcoats?
    Hi de hi !


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  • Henry Irving
    Henry Irving Posts: 85,219
    Red Addicks?
  • redman
    redman Posts: 5,285
    surprised they are not under pressure to change the washington bit as well. As he was a big slave owner, but there again never let a fact get in the way of stupidity. 
  • killerandflash
    killerandflash Posts: 69,842
    How about the Washington Redbus after our mysterious former sponsor...


  • Cordoban Addick
    Cordoban Addick Posts: 5,448
    Off_it said:
    When I heard on the news earlier that they were changing their name to fit in with modern views I assumed it was the reference to the racist colonial slave-owning Freemason traitor they were getting rid of.
     
    Obama First Peoples? That would fuck up the birther movement.
  • SomervilleAddick
    SomervilleAddick Posts: 3,575
    The the Washington one is a no brainer, it should never have taken this long, and it wouldn’t have happened if the major sponsors hadn’t pushed it. 

    Cleveland will be next, although I think it’s less about “Indians” and more about the logo which is just offensive. 

    For the others, I’ll defer to Native Americans as to whether they feel Braves/Chiefs are offensive. But Atlanta need to get rid of the tomahawk chop. 

    Blackhawks - that’s one for the tribe (Blackhawk was a chief, it’s not a tribe - I had to look it up, it’s not the Sac and Fox Nation). I know the story is the the ordinal owner named it after his military unit, but that ain’t no US Military figure on their jerseys. 

    The Seminoles are happy for Florida State to use their name , and I think where it is specific the tribe should make that decision. 
  • stackitsteve
    stackitsteve Posts: 12,102
    There was an article in the Athletic last week that said the braves were discussing the idea of dropping the tomahawk chop but wouldn’t be considering a name change.

    FWIW the Chiefs feature the tomahawk chop prominently in their pregame routine. I believe native Americans have asked them to stop.
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,847
    edited July 2020
    The new name being announced tomorrow

    Welcome - The D.C. Redskins
  • Leroy Ambrose
    Leroy Ambrose Posts: 14,436
    Should change it to Foreskins, that'd be about appropriate for that franchise.

    Didn't the Indians drop the highly offensive smiley faced Indian caricature (equivalent to a golliwog) from their logo and merchandise a couple of years ago now? 
  • SomervilleAddick
    SomervilleAddick Posts: 3,575
    Leroy Ambrose said:
    Should change it to Foreskins, that'd be about appropriate for that franchise.

    Didn't the Indians drop the highly offensive smiley faced Indian caricature (equivalent to a golliwog) from their logo and merchandise a couple of years ago now? 
    You are correct, I’d forgotten that. 
  • Cloudworm
    Cloudworm Posts: 973
    About time. As somebody else has said, when you have a franchise system, it negates any sense of history - I hear they’re thinking of changing the name of the Oval Invincibles...who’d care.

    It’s a testament to how this forum has changed from 10 years ago when I was formally a member, that 20 comments in and not one “PC gone mad” (or worse) type comment. 
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  • Exiled_Addick
    Exiled_Addick Posts: 17,168
    Seems the right thing to do. Respecting history includes acknowledging that just because it’s always been that way doesn’t mean it always has to be that way. 

    Similar, although much less high profile, discussion going right now with my local CFL team the Edmonton Eskimos. Sus pect we are heading towards a similar decision and the name will he changed, probably rightly so. 
     
    It’s been going on for a while, but being Canada it’s a less partisan debate than south of the border. 



  • Chris_from_Sidcup
    Chris_from_Sidcup Posts: 36,009
    Snyder in 2013: “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”

    Snyder the week after their biggest sponsor FedEx asked for the name to be changed, along with support fro, Pepsi, Nike and Bank of America - "    we want to keep our sponsors, fans and community apprised of our thinking as we go forward. Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review.”

    Money talks.
  • Baldybonce
    Baldybonce Posts: 9,640
    William White English colonist writing of his time in camp with the Quioughcohannock Indians. (1607)

    Conditions in the camp were challenging.The cold was 'extreme sharp', and a freezing north west wind whipped through the makeshift dwellings. The Indians seemed unaffected, claiming that their red body paint , made of the root pocone mixed with oil made them impervious ( this not their  natural complexion, was the reason they became known as red Indians). 

    From the book Savage Kingdom, Virginia and the founding of English America. Well worth a read.
  • Six-a-bag-of-nuts
    Six-a-bag-of-nuts Posts: 8,127
    Baldybonce said:
    William White English colonist writing of his time in camp with the Quioughcohannock Indians. (1607)

    Conditions in the camp were challenging.The cold was 'extreme sharp', and a freezing north west wind whipped through the makeshift dwellings. The Indians seemed unaffected, claiming that their red body paint , made of the root pocone mixed with oil made them impervious ( this not their  natural complexion, was the reason they became known as red Indians). 

    From the book Savage Kingdom, Virginia and the founding of English America. Well worth a read.
    Solved! They should change their name to the Washington Slaps  ;)
  • Baldybonce
    Baldybonce Posts: 9,640
    Six-a-bag-of-nuts said:
    Baldybonce said:
    William White English colonist writing of his time in camp with the Quioughcohannock Indians. (1607)

    Conditions in the camp were challenging.The cold was 'extreme sharp', and a freezing north west wind whipped through the makeshift dwellings. The Indians seemed unaffected, claiming that their red body paint , made of the root pocone mixed with oil made them impervious ( this not their  natural complexion, was the reason they became known as red Indians). 

    From the book Savage Kingdom, Virginia and the founding of English America. Well worth a read.
    Solved! They should change their name to the Washington Slaps  ;)
     :o 
  • Raith_C_Chattonell
    Raith_C_Chattonell Posts: 5,677
    I note the Dixie Chicks are now The Chicks.  That's still offensive though, according to a bird I used to go out with. 
  • cafckev
    cafckev Posts: 2,914
    And here lies the problem.

    everyone claiming it’s a good idea, and it’s about time etc. BUT does everyone actually know why they chose Redskins?

    It was chosen to honour the Native Americans who believed (and still do) that the colour Red was a colour that represented power and strength. To believed it how the power to protect them that they in fact used the colour to paint their faces when going into battle (war paint as we know it).

    So, far from being racist or anti something or other, it is in fact there honouring a minority group. The various organisation in the US who now represent Native Americans who said they see no problem with the name or logo and see it more as a honour of the memory.

    So rather than making their oppression, it reminds them of their history, power, beliefs and security!

    But, others seem to have forgotten the meaning of it, and are feeling offended on their behalf and objected.....and won
  • Bilko
    Bilko Posts: 767
    What’s next? Are they going rename the The dog pound at the Browns because cats don’t like it and also stop fans wearing cheeseheads at the Packers because it offends vegans.
  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,348
    Washington has had problems with its sports team names. The NBA team 'the Wizards' was originally 'the Bullets' but the name was altered due to a high murder rate in the Capital. Could be the Washington Washouts lol .. I'll go for the 'Washington Capitals'

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