President Donald Trump would not entirely approve of Washington commanders who change the name of the NFL team to “Redskins” – which was considered an insult by a number of Native American groups.
He supported the voice to the Chiefs of Kansas City – and made fun of Cleveland for having changed the name of his MLB from the Indians to the Guardians.
We asked Trump if he had bounded the commanding football stadium in Washington, DC to return the name to the original.
“Now Washington, the Redskins, it may be a little different, a little different,” he said. “I think it is a name superior to what they have right now,” he also volunteered.
He added that “we are to bring common sense to this country”.
The names of the “Redskins” has been at the center of the controversy for decades for a movement to start removing the use of the Amerindians while the mascots began in the 1960s.
President Trump has not approved the Washington football team exactly to return to his old name
Washington commanders fans did not take the mark of their team from 2022
After decades of pressure, the franchise has stopped being known as Washington Redskins
For years, the National Congress of American Indians – a non -profit organization which represents the indigenous tribes of the national capital – considered the nickname as a racial insult.
The NCAI and a number of individual tribes and indigenous peoples protested the name and put pressure on the former owner of the Dan Snyder team to change the name.
Attitudes on the nickname have changed over time and in the mid -2010s, studies had shown increasing animosity among the American Indians towards the name. In addition, the sight of fans of different breeds bearing native caps and “war painting” had become far too common.
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent demonstrations for racial equality in 2020 as well as the pressure of the League and its sponsors, the team abandoned the nickname `Redskins ” and played as a Washington football team for two seasons. In 2022, it was announced that the team would be renowned for commanders.
After the sale of Snyder of the franchise in Josh Harris, the fans put pressure on the new owner to return to the old name.
In addition, the native American Guardians Association – an organization which is vocally opposed to the elimination of Amerindian 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 names of the “Redskins”.
However, like the NFL and the commanders are private companies, Trump does not have the power to force a name change.
After decades of requests to change the name, the former owner Dan Snyder (L) abandoned the “Redskins” in 2020. The new owner Josh Harris (R) was asked by the fans to change it.
Decades of pressure from indigenous groups to drop the name – which they considered an insult – led to change in 2020. However, some hoped that Trump could force them to change it.
But there is not much that Trump can do to force a private company to undergo a change of identity
A Redskins fan in 2019, wearing a native hairstyle and a “war painting” in Miami
In addition, the team’s attempts to leave his current home in Landover, Maryland and back within the limits of the city of DC in a new place on the site of the old RFK stadium could be a roadblock to bring the old identity back.
The commanders were founded in Boston in 1932. The city received a franchise from the NFL under the property of George Preston Marshall.
Initially, the team was known as Boston Braves and shared the name with a national league baseball team (which finally moved to Milwaukee, then at their current Atlanta home) and shared the same stadium, Braves Field.
After a single season under the nickname Braves and Braves Field, Marshall changed the name to Redskins and moved the team to Fenway Park. Finally, they moved to Washington in 1937.
Marshall had been accused of racism throughout his career in football when he had promoted a “gentleman agreement” in the league so as not to sign black players. This “agreement” resisted until 1946.
It was not until 1962 that the Redskins finally joined (the last NFL team to do so) after Marshall was threatened by the general of the time, General Robert Kennedy and the interior secretary Stewart Udall.
The two members of the cabinet said that if the team had not signed a black player, the government would revoke the franchise lease on DC Stadium (now RFK Stadium).
In the draft of this year’s NFL, Marshall selected Syracuse Running Back Ernie Davis, the first black player to have won the Heisman trophy. When Davis refused to play for the team, he was exchanged at the Cleveland Browns for the ball carrier Bobby Mitchell and he became the first black player of the team.
