Here in part is what I wrote nearly seven years ago in “Why Is Washington Redskins Any More Acceptable than Washington Niggers … or Washington Hymies?” October 19, 2013:
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Can you imagine an NFL team today being called the Washington Niggers; or, given owner Daniel Snyder’s Jewish heritage, the Washington Hymies…?
Despite vowing to ‘never change the name of the team’ – as Snyder is quoted saying in the May 10, 2013 edition of USA Today, I bet it’s only a matter of time before political and commercial pressure force him to do so.
Clearly whites did not enslave Native Americans the way they did black Africans. But their genocidal killing of Native Americans and confiscatory plundering of their lands were arguably far worse. And granting them licenses to operate casinos on the little reservations whites deigned to leave them hardly compensates for all that.
Therefore, the least whites can do today is show them the same politically correct respect they show blacks, no? Which is why it’s also only a matter of time before the Cleveland Indians are forced to drop the racial slur from their name too.
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Well, it looks like the time has come for me to collect on that bet.
FedEx, which owns the naming rights of the Washington Redskins’ stadium [a $200 million investment], has asked the team to change its name — a monumental shift in the debate, with FedEx CEO Frederick Smith a member of the Redskins’ ownership group.
‘We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name,’ FedEx said in a statement Thursday.
(The Washington Times, July 2, 2020)
But nothing telegraphs that it’s only a matter of time before that little munchkin Snyder caves quite like this:
Dozens of investment firms and shareholders are calling on Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to end their business relationships with the Washington Redskins unless the team changes its name, Adweek reported Wednesday.
The letters, sent last week and signed by 87 firms holding more than $620 billion in assets, said the companies were not living up to their stated opposition to racial injustice.
(The Hill, July 1, 2020)
Like they say, money talks, bullshit walks! Accordingly, Nike has quietly complied by removing all Redskins merchandise from its website.
But Snyder had decades to do the right thing on his own terms. Now public shaming will force his hand amidst the national reckoning afoot, which will tar him with the same feathers as monuments to Confederate traitors and white supremacists.
Thusly shamed, he may find fellow NFL owners suddenly treating him like that proverbial skunk at the garden party. And no words would be able to express the poetic irony in that …
Meanwhile, for any hope of redemption, Snyder should consult leaders of Native tribes on renaming his team. They would probably suggest the Washington Cherokees.
Not only is the Cherokee the largest of all tribes; it just happen to be the tribe most ethnically cleansed from this area of the country pursuant to the government’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 (a.k.a. the infamous Trail of Tears).
Related commentaries:
Redskins… Trail of Tears…
Confederate monuments…