The Redsk*ns Were Forced to Admit That Racism Is No Longer Profitable
Black Lives Matter changed everything, and it’s been a long time coming
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On Monday, the Washington NFL team’s owner, Dan Snyder, announced that the Redsk*ns name and logo are being retired. While they’ve yet to declare a replacement, which makes me somewhat apprehensive, the fact that Washington will finally stop using a dictionary-defined racial slur as its moniker is worthy of celebration, or at least, a sigh of relief.
To my knowledge, Natives have been demanding that Washington drop the Redsk*ns name for at least 50 years. Snyder himself once said that he was “never” going to change it. As it turns out, “never” means two weeks. Make no mistake, the infamous Redsk*ns name hasn’t fallen because the organization finally heard the pleas of thousands of Natives crying out for justice.
In short, the race-based name and logo are finished because money talks. On July 2, FedEx, the sponsor of the team’s Maryland stadium, formally asked the team to retire the offensive name and logo. Nike and PepsiCo were also asked by investors and shareholders to terminate their relationship with the organization unless the Redsk*ns was relegated to the annals of history. Soon after, the Washington team’s merch was pulled from major chains like Walmart, Target, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Keeping the racist term is no longer economically viable.
America’s foundations were shaken by its builders, who are not the founding fathers you’ve read about in whitewashed textbooks, but Black people whose ancestors were forcibly moved here as slaves.
But why now? Three words: Black Lives Matter. After the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Americans took to the streets to demand an end to police violence. In the middle of the historic Covid-19 pandemic, millions were awakened to another pandemic hiding in plain sight, that of virulent, spirit-killing white supremacy. Thousands donned masks to march through the streets. Buildings burned. Statues of colonial slaveholders and genocidal murderers were torn asunder. America’s foundations were shaken by its…
