Washington name is ‘worst offender’
Native American groups want to see more change coming
For some Native American groups, the push for Washington’s NFL franchise to change its nickname has been not only a righteous cause, but also a strategic movement. In 2017, then-president of the National Congress of American Indians Jacqueline Pata was interviewed by Andrew C. Billings and Jason Edwards Black for the book “Mascot Nation: The Controversy Over Native American Representations in Sports.” She outlined one reason the NCAI had focused its name-change efforts on Washington: the principle that once the most egregious nickname fell, others would follow.
“We believe if the name of the worst offender goes away, then the others will follow suit,” Pata told the authors.
When the Washington Redskins announced last Friday under pressure from major sponsors that they will conduct a “thorough review” of their nickname, it served as a watershed moment for the franchise. It might also have major ripple effects throughout professional sports, where a handful of teams employ Native American mascots that, while not as blatantly derogatory as a name regarded as a slur, many believe either denigrate Native Americans or lead to denigrating images or behavior. Is Washington’s imminent name change a singular spasm or the earthquake that leads to a series of tremors? One major development supports the latter. Last Friday night, less than 12 hours after Washington’s declaration, the Cleveland Indians announced the franchise would “determine the best path forward” with its 105-year-old nickname.
It could be unthinkable for teams like the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Blackhawks and Kansas City Chiefs to do away with nicknames long embedded into their histories. But before the racial reckoning of this spring and summer sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody, Washington making a change would have been unthinkable, too.
“When you really look at what the Washington team name has signified, it is one of the most blatant examples of institutionalized racism in popular culture that has been allowed to stand for decades,” IllumiNative CEO Crystal Echo Hawk said. “As we saw all the events accelerate over the last few weeks, and we when started to see those big brands deciding to retire — from Aunt Jemima, to Uncle Ben’s to Eskimo Pies and down the line — it opened up a whole other level of conversation about the power of racialized brands and imagery and symbols.
“It’s a big part of the conversation we’re having in this country, and the harm they cause. And so this was the natural inclination — that this is the biggest. And we think the league and the team doing the right thing and eradicating all of it, we think this is going to set off a chain reaction.”
At lower levels of sports, it has happened before. Change begets change. In the 1990s, a cascade of college athletic departments moved away from Native American names. In 2015, California passed a law prohibiting high schools from using “Redskins” as a team name. The decree had a downstream effect — many schools that used other nicknames with a connection to Native Americans switched, too. Supporters of changing Native mascots are hopeful Washington could have a similar, even larger impact.
“It’s like taking out a general in a war,” said Louis Gray, a member of the Osage Nation and former president of the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism.