In light of recent protests over perceived racial inequality and injustice, the National Football League has vowed to do more to promote diversity throughout its various teams. But one team in particular will have a complete makeover if the mob has its way.
The Washington Redskins have been embroiled in controversy for several years now because their team name is considered a derogatory racial slur by certain activists. (For what it’s worth, a 2016 poll of Native Americans found almost none were offended by the team name.) Dan Snyder, the team’s owner, has refused to budge despite national pressure to change the team’s name. Because at the end of the day, Redskins fans “understand the great tradition and what it’s all about and what it means,” he said back in 2013.
But one look around the room confirms that Snyder’s position will be hard to maintain. Quaker Oats, owned by PepsiCo, announced last week that it will do away with its “Aunt Jemima” breakfast line, apologizing for the “racial stereotypes” on which the brand was founded. HBO Max pulled Gone with the Wind, one of the most popular films of all time, from its library because of the way the film depicts slavery. And across the country, statues dedicated to great men and problematic figures alike are being torn down by mobs armed with spray paint and pitchforks.
And they’ve already chosen their next target: Snyder. The Washington Post, which has always referred to the team as the Washington Redskins in print, published an editorial with the headline “Change the name of the Washington NFL team. Now.” And D.C. City Council members are refusing to allow the team’s stadium to move back into the district and out of Maryland until Snyder agrees to change the name.
“One wonders if Dan Snyder can hold out much longer, in the face of what looks as if it is a revolutionary change in what people will anymore tolerate,” Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s congressional delegate, told the Wall Street Journal. “I understand that the word ‘Redskins’ is not about an African-American, but it is equally racist and equally opposed by African-Americans.”
The NFL has defended Snyder’s decision to keep the team’s name as it is in the past, though executives have privately urged him to reconsider. But now that the league has publicly sided with the activists, it won’t be long before a public break between Snyder and the NFL appears. The only question is: Will Snyder fold?
