President Donald Trump wouldn’t quite endorse the Washington Commanders changing the NFL team’s name back to the ‘Redskins’ – which was considered a slur by a number of Native American groups.
He did voice support for the Kansas City Chiefs – and mocked Cleveland for changing the name of its MLB franchise from Indians to Guardians.
Trump was asked if he’d tie the Commanders’ football stadium deal in Washington, D.C. to reverting the name back to the original.
‘Now Washington, the Redskins, perhaps that’s a little different, a little different,’ he said. ‘I think it’s a superior name to what they have right now,’ he also volunteered.
He added that, ‘we’re about bringing common sense back to this country.’
The ‘Redskins’ name had been at the center of controversy for decades since a movement to begin phasing out the use of Native Americans as mascots began in the 1960s.
President Trump didn’t exactly endorse Washington’s football team returning to its old name
Fans of the Washington Commanders haven’t taken to the re-brand of their team from 2022
After decades of pressure, the franchise stopped being known as the Washington Redskins
For years, the National Congress of American Indians – a non-profit organization that represents indigenous tribes in the nation’s capital – viewed the nickname as a racial slur.
The NCAI and a number of individual tribes and indigenous people protested the name and lobbied former team owner Dan Snyder to change the name.
Attitudes on the nickname changed over time and by the mid-2010s, studies had shown a growing animosity among American Indians toward the name. Additionally, the sight of fans of different races donning Native headdresses and ‘war paint’ had become far too common.
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests for racial equality in 2020 as well as pressure from the league and its sponsors, the team abandoned the ‘Redskins’ moniker and played as the Washington Football Team for two seasons. In 2022, it was announced that the team would be re-branded as the Commanders.
Following Snyder’s sale of the franchise to Josh Harris, fans have lobbied the new owner to revert to the old name.
Additionally, the Native American Guardians Association – an organization which vocally opposes the removal of Native American mascots – launched a petition to bring the name back.
After Trump was re-elected, many fans hoped that he could somehow force the team or the NFL to bring the ‘Redskins’ name back.
However, as both the NFL and the Commanders are private businesses, Trump has no authority to force a name change.
Following decades of demands to change the name, former owner Dan Snyder (L) dropped ‘Redskins’ in 2020. New owner Josh Harris (R) has been asked by fans to change it back.
Decades of pressure from indigenous groups to drop the name – which they considered a slur – led to the change in 2020. However, some hoped Trump could force them to change it back.
But there’s little that Trump can do to force a private business to undergo an identity change
A fan of the Redskins in 2019, wearing a native headdress and ‘war paint’ in Miami
Additionally, the team’s attempts to move from its current home in Landover, Maryland and back into the DC city limits at a new venue on the site of the old RFK Stadium could be a roadblock to bringing back the old identity.
The Commanders were founded in Boston in 1932. The city was awarded a franchise by the NFL under the ownership of George Preston Marshall.
Initially, the team was known as the Boston Braves and shared the name with a National League baseball team (which eventually moved to Milwaukee, then to their current home of Atlanta) and shared the same stadium, Braves Field.
After just one season under the Braves moniker and at Braves Field, Marshall changed the name to Redskins and moved the team to Fenway Park. Eventually, they moved to Washington in 1937.
Marshall had been accused of racism throughout his career in football as he promoted a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ in the league to not sign any black players. That ‘agreement’ held up until 1946.
It wasn’t until 1962 that the Redskins finally integrated (the last team in the NFL to do so) after Marshall was threatened by then-Attorney general Robert Kennedy and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.
The two cabinet members said that if the team didn’t sign a black player, the government would revoke the franchise’s lease on DC Stadium (now RFK Stadium).
In that year’s NFL Draft, Marshall selected Syracuse running back Ernie Davis, the first black player to ever win the Heisman Trophy. When Davis refused to play for the team, he was traded to the Cleveland Browns for running back Bobby Mitchell and he became the team’s first black player.
