Hey, remember when this was all about reforming the police?
The Racial Justice Reckoning Over Sports Team Names Is Spreading
Lots of people, especially many Native Americans, loathe the name of the Washington, D.C., NFL team, the Redskins.
“The origin of that name is rooted in murder and violence and genocide and hate,” says Crystal Echo Hawk, the founder and CEO of the advocacy group IllumiNative. “It’s a dictionary-defined racial slur, full-stop.”
And lots don’t.
Echo Hawk says a 30-year stalemate over the team name suddenly broke when the team’s corporate sponsors demanded a new name, and the team agreed to consider it.
“What changed was the murder of George Floyd,” says Echo Hawk. “And it changed everything in this country.”
What does George Floyd have to do with the name of the Redskins? How did we go from police reform to this?
“I think we’ve reached a point where the Redskins name is now more of a burden than a benefit to the team,” says Mike Lewis, a marketing professor at Emory University.
Lewis says this reckoning — he calls it a “purity spiral” — is just getting started.
“I’ve been looking at this stuff for years and the Redskins has always been sort of the focal point for the controversy,” he says. “The Indians second, the Chiefs probably third. The Braves and the Blackhawks don’t take a lot of heat for whatever reason. But at this point, I think all sorts of team names are now in play.”
The Cleveland Indians have launched a formal name review.
That leaves primarily the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team. The three teams all claim to venerate Native Americans.
Crystal Echo Hawk says the names Braves, Blackhawks and Chiefs are not racial slurs, but they do carry baggage.
If fans of these teams think this will stop, good luck with that.
“It’s the imagery that gets associated with those names. It’s the racist fan behavior. When a fan paints their face red, right? That is blackface. Blackface is wrong. We, I think most people in this country, get that now,” says Echo Hawk.
They’re coming after the tomahawk chop at Braves and Chiefs games. They’re coming after the logos and the names. It won’t stop.
Read: #CancelCulture: They’re Coming After The Chiefs, Blackhawks, And Braves, As Well »