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Eugene

(62,736 posts)
Fri Jun 19, 2020, 11:38 PM Jun 2020

Washington Post calls on Skins' owner or NFL to change name

Related: Change the name of the Washington NFL team. Now. (Washington Post)

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Source: Associated Press

Washington Post calls on Skins’ owner or NFL to change name

By HOWARD FENDRICH
June 19, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Post editorial board is calling on Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change his football club’s name.

Under the headline, “Change the name of the Washington NFL team. Now,” the newspaper says in an editorial posted online Friday that if Snyder won’t switch the nickname, the professional football league itself ought to do so.

“This should be an easy call. Mr. Snyder — or, if Mr. Snyder refuses to back down from his declaration of “NEVER,” the NFL — should take advantage of this singular moment in history to get on the right side of history,” the Post says. “Change the name. NOW.”

Snyder has owned the team since 1999 and steadfastly vowed to keep the name, despite calls to reconsider, a push that has resurfaced during the ongoing national reckoning over racism.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser last week called the name “an obstacle” to the team building a new stadium and headquarters in the nation’s capital, where a project likely would be on land leased by the federal government. The club currently has its stadium in Maryland, and its practice facility in Virginia.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/0a06f487c501b89518b8541338ca790a

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Source: Washington Post

Change the name of the Washington NFL team. Now.

By Editorial Board
6/19/2020, 2:53:18 p.m.

“BUT HOW, in these times, do you raise kids in the nation’s capital, ask them to look at the pain and the strife racial injustice has caused in their hometown and their home country, walk them through steps they can take to make things better, and then have them Hail to the Redskins on Sundays? It’s so incongruent it makes your head hurt.” So wrote Post sports columnist Barry Svrluga in calling on Washington football team owner Daniel Snyder to rename the team in light of the national reckoning over racial injustice that has been sparked by the killing of George Floyd.

Mr. Svrluga wasn’t alone. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) took to the radio to say that “it’s past time for the team to deal with what offends so many people. . . . It deserves a name that reflects the affection that we’ve built for the team.” And, after the team participated in an effort this month to support Black Lives Matter by posting a black box on social media, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted: “Want to really stand for social justice? Change your name.”

Over the years, there have been many calls for the team to jettison its name because it is a slur that denigrates and disrespects Native Americans. Throughout, Mr. Snyder has been dismissive, if not downright contemptuous. “NEVER — you can use caps” he famously told USA Today in 2013 when he was asked about changing the name. But the breadth and intensity of the demands for an end to racial injustice that have gripped the country as the result of Mr. Floyd’s tragic death put a new edge to the debate and the demand for change.

Already, institutions across the board have been forced to take stock of how their practices and policies and — yes — even the names and symbols of their products have contributed to racial misunderstanding and prejudice. Quaker Oats announced it was getting rid of Aunt Jemima from its syrup and pancake mixes, and Uncle Ben and Mrs. Butterworth seem sure to follow. On Friday, Events DC, which manages RFK Stadium in Washington, removed a statue of George Preston Marshall, who as owner of the local football team refused to allow black players for as long as he possibly could. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently admitted to — and apologized for — not listening to players about systemic racism and police brutality against African Americans. He also must know it is wrong for a team to have a name that the dictionary defines as a racial slur and that no one would ever use to address a person who is a Native American.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/change-the-name-of-the-washington-nfl-team-now/2020/06/19/4d0b4434-b0ce-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html
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Washington Post calls on Skins' owner or NFL to change name (Original Post) Eugene Jun 2020 OP
K; R CatWoman Jun 2020 #1
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