Some rule changes in sports are so obvious that after they’re made, we often wonder why it took so long in the first place. Many sports were slow to integrate African-Americans but golf was especially tardy, with many courses waiting until hurricane Tiger Woods destroyed the competition to allow people of color on the golf course. It seemed like pulling teeth to get MLB to implement any real performance enhancing drug testing or penalties on the books, but it finally happened. Pro and college basketball games could be snoozefests before the shot clock was invented. Even the NCAA is finally allowing that college football national championship to be decided in a tournament.
Meanwhile the NFL still has a team called the Washington Redskins.
Let’s not rush to judge the District of Columbia for this fiasco. The residents fussed when former owner Abe Pollin decided that it didn’t make much sense to call his basketball team the ‘Bullets’ when black folks were killing each other by the minute in the nation’s capital. My gut feeling is that the ruckus was mainly over the crappy five finalists (Dragons, Express, Stallions, Sea Dogs, or Wizards)and not because the Bullets name was so endeared. Yet they got over it pretty quickly and the Wizards have been embraced the few times they’ve fielded halfway competent teams.
However, despite the objection of many Native American groups and the general understanding amongst people with common sense that the term ‘Redskins’ can be offensive, Daniel Snyder is digging in for a battle. He’s refusing to change the team name for the sake of tradition.
Ah, good ol’ tradition. It was once tradition for black people to work for whites for nothing more than a meal, a bed and a back full of welts. It was once tradition for women to skip school and stay at home until momma and daddy bartered them off to the first old coot with a couple of cows looking for a 12 year old bride. It was once tradition to hurl stones at criminals until they died a slow and painful death. It was once a tradition to hang a black man for even looking at a white woman ‘the wrong way.’
I don’t mean to be overdramatic, but sometimes traditions suck. No, the name Redskins isn’t as crippling as the aforementioned examples, but it highlights the fact using the excuse “well, it’s what we’ve always done” is the worst reason ever to decide whether to continue doing something.
Just imagine if the Cleveland Browns (named after Paul Brown, the team’s first head coach) attempted to change its name to the Cleveland Coloreds. What if the New York Knicks became the New York Negroes. Goodbye Carolina Panthers, hello Carolina Crackers, with good ol’ Gary Busey’s face as the logo. If you’re thinking these suggestions are absurd, it’s because they are. Those words have been traditionally used to describe certain people, but it doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. Even if YOU (and I’m 99.9% sure that you’re not Native American. I don’t care what your grandmother told you about the origins of your “good hair.”) aren’t offended by the term redskins, it shouldn’t matter.
Besides the name Browns, which is incredibly generic, naming teams after groups of people is just plain dumb anyway. Would anybody in their right mind rename the Cardinals to the St. Louis Jews? How about the Houston Mexicans? It’s a slap in the face to Native Americans for a team in the nation’s capital to be called the Redskins.
If you’re rolling your eyes right now, you should be. This whole debate is absurd. The only reason the team name has been allowed for so long is because Native Americans don’t have the population, the political power or the money to put real pressure on the powers that be. Still, every few years there’s a public push against the Redskins name. This most recent push got a shot of adrenaline when the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) voted to cancel the team’s trademarks. It’s a nice sentiment and one that might slightly affect Snyder’s pocketbooks, but at the end of the day, that decision will just make attorneys lots of money. For real change, fans and players need to make a stand.
Just as celebrities, fans and (most importantly) NBA players spoke out against Donald Sterling’s bigoted comments, the same must be done for this bigoted team name. I’m not suggesting that Snyder is racist or bigoted. The only color he’s motivated by is green. So black, white, brown and every other hue of human must join together to force his hand.
Can you imagine how quickly the name would change if stars such as QB Robert Griffin III refused to suit up? What it Peyton Manning and Tom Brady refused to play versus the team until there was a name change? Imagine if fans boycotted the games in droves, costing the franchise millions in parking, concessions and ticket revenues. It’s clear the only way Snyder will drop the insensitive name and/or mascot from his team is if his books go in the red. Time for the players and public to make sure that happens.
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