Redskins are no tribe. It is a derogatory way to call Native Americans. There are documents from the 18th century that also reflect its use to refer to its hair. That is, murdering a native and ripping off his scalp for a reward . Although they used it in their languages to refer to their people, in English the racist meaning of the settlers prevailed. It has taken 87 years for the Washington Redskins to announce that they are considering changing their name.
It would be naive to think that the owners of this historic NFL franchise (three titles) have come to their senses. There is simply a lot of money at stake. FedEx , the company that gives its stadium its name, publicly demanded it. Nike and Amazon have withdrawn all of their products. Bank of America and PepsiCo have joined them.
The calculation of these companies in making the decision may also be measured in millions of dollars: Since the 1970s, there have been campaigns calling for change, but the sponsors have never raised their voices. The decision comes at a key moment in the fight against racism in the US , revived in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Now they row in favor of current.
Boston Braves
The very origin of the name of the is unclear. The team was born in 1932 as the Boston Braves, but the following year they changed the name so as not to be confused with the baseball team. According to their owner, they were renamed Redskins in honor of the team's Native Americans. Among them his coach, William Lone Star Dietz . The problem is that research indicates that Dietz was actually the son of German immigrants. He only pretended to be Sioux so that he would not be called up during the First World War. The crime cost him a month in jail.
The franchise's first owner, George Preston Marshall , has also made headlines this week. Under his tenure, the Washington Redskins were the last in the NFL to incorporate black players. At the time, there were no more teams south of Washington, and the Redskins promoted themselves as "the southern team," with all that that entailed having a roster made up of only white players. In fact, the hymn came to include the phrase "fight for old Dixie," the name given to the southern states, mainly the Confederates.
Marshall only agreed to sign a black player when, in 1962, the Kennedy Administration threatened to kick the Redskins out of the stadium for racial discrimination. And despite this record, it was not until these days that the city of Washington removed a Marshall monument and the franchise erased its trail from the web and the stadium. The stands that previously bore his name have been renamed in honor of Bobby Mitchell , the team's first big black star.
Cleveland Indians
The Redskins' case is not unique. The Cleveland Indians of the baseball MLB have also admitted that they are considering changing their name, although in their case the main problem was the mascot, which they withdrew last year as a racist cartoon. The Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Braves or Chicago Blackhawks also do not have pejorative names, although they do use Native American iconography and are under scrutiny.
The line between homage and cultural appropriation can be conflicting if we consider the massive murders of the native population during colonization and the humiliating treatment it has historically received in the United States. None of these cases, however, has raised controversy in a case as stark as that of the Redskins.
The movement is not new, despite the fact that some, starting with Donald Trump , denounce it as a good fashion. The first logo of the NBA Warriors was an Indian headdress and an arrow. They kept it for much of the 1960s until it was exchanged for the Golden Gate in San Francisco. In the 1970s, as protests against the Redskins took shape, powerful universities such as Stanford, Oklahoma or Syracuse changed their pets.
In 2013, USA Today asked current Redskins owner Dan Snyder if he was considering changing the name of his team. "We will never change it. It's that simple. NEVER. You can capitalize it, "he said then. That never seems to have lasted seven years.
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