Tag: indigenous

I will admit it to many thinks.

I am a life long fan of the NFL team that plays in the Washington D.C. region. I always will be.

However, I can not bring myself to say the “C” word. Sorry, I won’t type it either.

Several years ago, the fuss started about the lack of PC in the old Washington Football Team’s name. I hadn’t ever thought about it. They were called what they were called. I knew the history of the team, the history of the logo, the history of the prejudice in the organization.

Under Dan Snyder, every fan was aware of how awful his ownership group was. But the team name remained the one thing all fans could still rally around.


Fans wore the logo, said the name, sang the fight song and participated in cheers. No one was thinking about anything other than celebrating the team that we all loved. Certainly, thoughts were not about insulting Native Americans.

In fact, real fans knew that Walter “Blackie” Weltzel was a leader of the Blackfeet Nation. He designed the logo. They also knew that the logo was based on Blackfeet Chief John Two Guns White Calf.

There was never reason to think of the football team’s name as anything other than a tribute. The name honored the Native Americans that once called the D.C area home.

D.C. sits on the ancestral lands of the Nacotchtank (or Anacostans), and neighbors the ancestral lands of the Piscataway and Pamunkey peoples.

D.C. is still home to over 4,600 Native American’s.

Yes, area schools, including the high school I went to, drooped references to Indians as logos, team names and mascots. Some rightfully so, some over reaction to the too sensitive.

Sure every few years someone would write a story, try to stir the pot. Those stories always has short lives, died easy.

Somehow, during the two to three years of intense cancel culture, the NFL felt blackmailed. They were forced to implement a name change. It was a change that nobody wanted, except for a handful of non-fans. Some fans described them as a “bunch of white women named Karen.” They said these women had a lot of time on their hands and no sense of history.

All that was accomplished was canceling of Native American association with the NFL. That cancellation was not called for nor wanted by Native Americans.

It seems that Washington is getting closer to changing the logo back, or at least using it somehow. Why? Because Native Americans sued, others asked, more demaned.

I respect your right to be offend by things. Just because you are offended doesn’t mean something is offensive. If something isn’t offensive to those you think SHOULD be offended, perhaps your time and energy are being misspent.

If you won’t want to use the old Washington team name, please don’t. No one is forcing you.

If you feel offended by the Washington team name, the logo, it’s best to discuss it with the 90% of Native Americans who support the old team name.

It really doesn’t seem to be a you problem. Why make it one?