Yes, our collective dreams of seeing the glorious Redskins name return to the NFL has come crashing down like the Hindenburg. The hearts of fans and the brains of rational people across the country will not be healed.
Washington Redskins fans sing Hail to the Redskins via WhatsUpInTheSky37 YouTube
During a radio appearance this week, Commanders team President Jason Wright crushed any hope that old school fans and the truly faithful had by saying that the possibility of a name change is “not being considered. Period.”
“We have three big priorities for new ownership: building a championship-caliber team on the field and investing in amenities we need to do so, improving the guest experience, and re-engaging with the community,” said Wright. “Josh and the limited partners will be present in the community leading up to game day, including a big kickoff party at Franklin Park on Sept. 8, so we’ll see what happens.”
A Washington Redskins helmet in 2019 Photo Credit: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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This dark revelation comes after renewed hope emerged from several grassroots attempts to petition the new ownership to restore the team’s heritage and legacy. By resurrecting the classic Redskins name that had been mocked, ridiculed, and slandered by critics calling it ‘racist.’ A viral petition even caught nationwide attention last month, which garnered more than 128,000 signatures.
The Native American Guardians Association (NAGA), which spearheaded the petition, expressed frustration over the team’s failure to even acknowledge them.
“We’re in it to win it,” said NAGA co-founder and historian Andre Billeaudeaux. The group’s other co-founder, Eunice Davidson, also refuted claims of being a “fake group” and stated their tribal membership after Matthew Laux, the premium-seat sales manager for the Commanders, questioned the legitimacy of the petition’s initiators.
Source: Washington Commanders YouTube
Billeaudeaux attributes the change of the Washington team’s nickname from “Redskins” to ‘toxic ignorance.’ He claims that this decision was driven by woke educators aiming to eliminate Native American history from sports and pop culture.
The team’s name and logo had roots in 17th-century Lenni-Lenape leader Tamanend, also known as Tammany, who was esteemed by the Founding Fathers and American Revolution fighters as the “Patron Saint of America.” Billeaudeaux asserts that the Redskins stood as the sole minority representation in the NFL, embodying an actual person rather than a mere mascot.
Is this the end of the road for the fight to bring back the Redskins? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and across social media.