Blog Posts

Schools across the country and in Canada are dropping racially insensitive mascots. Often, these are multi-year discussions and debates in the local communities. Yet, conclusions are ultimately reached that the mascots are racially insensitive and harmful. If only Mr. Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington football team, will learn from these experiences.

Here is a review of some of the rebranding efforts so far during 2019:

Cedar High School in Utah sends Redmen Packing
This past February, the Iron County School Board voted 3-2 to retire Redmen, the name and mascot for seven decades, of the Cedar High School in Utah. This vote follows a 17-7 vote of a community committee composed of students, alumni, and tribal members. This committee held three hearings. As well as being considered a racial slur, the name helped promote bullying of Native American students on-line and on campus.
T Carter, historian, researcher and activist based in Northern Virginia, said “Cedar High School in Utah welcomed communications from current students, alumni, the local community and activists from across the United States who work to change disparaging and stereotypical Native American names and mascots. I actively participated in the spirited and passionate debates for months. After sincere listening and thoughtful consideration, the school board voted to change the racist name and mascot. This is a victory for indigenous people, as well as the entire Cedar High student body, teachers, staff and the entire community. I hope other schools and professional sports teams will follow this wise decision.”

McGill University Also Retires Redmen
McGill University in Montreal, Canada has been known as the Redmen since the 1920s. At first, the name was a reference to the color of the uniforms but it eventually it represented indigenous peoples. A member of the men’s rowing team from the Kainai First Nation in southern Alberta initiated a petition drive last year that gathered 10,000 signatures.
Suzanne Fortier, the university principal and vice chancellor, wrote in a letter announcing the change, “Intention, however benign, does not negate prejudicial effect. Inclusion and respect are at the core of our university’s principles and values; pejoratives run contrary to who we are as a community. For these reasons, the Redmen name is not one that our community would choose today, and it is not one that McGill should carry forward into our third century.”
McGill will start a process for selecting a new name and mascot before the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
In 1994, St. John’s University changed its name from Redmen to Red Storm. In 1972, the University of Massachusetts changed its name from Redmen to Minutemen.

Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California
It took 17 years but the school district this April decided to shed the name Cherokees and replace it with Ravens. In 2002, students and teachers asked the district to change the mascot and name, saying both were offensive. The district dropped the Native American mascot but kept the name Cherokees. Even earlier in 2000, Chad Smith, a Cherokee school principal wrote that “Sports teams use an American Indian mascot to project an image that is savage and warrior-like, as portrayed in stereotypical imagery of the Hollywood movie. The Cherokee people do not perceive conceptual symbolism or symbolic behavior (e.g.,the tomahawk chop or stereotypical drumming or chanting) as respectful of our culture. There is no honor is seeing our culture being trivialized and exploited.”
In 2018, students and teachers again took up the cause, circulating petitions with 600 signatures. They presented the results of a survey in which 754 out of 1,209 respondents said the name should be retired. The board saw the wisdom in the activism of the students and teachers and voted to retire Native American themes completely.

Fairview Park City, Ohio
For decades, Fairview Park City schools were called the Warriors and had Native American logos and mascots that would dance at school games. This all ended in April.
“The district had put their foot down and said that we will not be dressing anyone up like a Native American and putting them on the sidelines of events,” said Chris Vicha, principal of Fairview High School and Lewis F. Mayer Middle School. “We’re not going to do that anymore. We don’t believe in that.”
Vicha is working with students, coaches, and community members to come up with a new mascot, logo, and name. The timing is right as the school grounds are undergoing renovations. This process of rebranding can be energizing, which Mr. Snyder could also use to rally fans around his team. Vicha continues, “The buzz in the building right now is fantastic. Our current student body is extremely excited about this.”

Skowhegan Area High School, Maine
This March, the Skowhegan school board voted 14-9 to retire its Native American mascot and logo. This was the last high school in Maine to rebrand. The state is now free of racially insensitive names and mascots. The Penobscot Nation led efforts to retire the name, calling it racist. Supporters said the name honored Native Americans. The Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, urged the district to retire the name.
Yet, the issue may not be settled. Supporters of the name are pressing for a referendum. This advocacy prompted opponents in the state legislature to prepare legislation prohibiting the use of Native American logos and mascots. As the controversy continues, RWF hopes that the stakeholders listen to the indigenous community that is clearly against the name and logo.

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Another Play to Get Snyder a Stadium in Washington DC?

3/24/2019

The Washington Post reports that Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is filing legislation asking Congress to sell to the District of Columbia the 190-acre site on which the old RFK stadium sits. Delegate Norton states she is neutral on the use of the site and wants the District’s citizens to decide. She has repeatedly denounced the name of the team as a racial slur.
Yet, Mr. Snyder salivates at the possibility of returning the team to the old RFK site, the location he remembers fondly watching games as a kid. Mayor Bowser likewise sees enticing the team back to the District as her legacy.
The fairest approach is to have an inclusive process that allows residents of the District of Columbia, particularly residents in neighborhoods adjacent to RFK, an opportunity to make their views known through ample public hearings in neighborhoods and before the Council. It is our bet that they would not favor a new football stadium, particularly at taxpayer expense. The stadium does not maximize the public value and use of the land since it is used perhaps less than a dozen times a year for the team’s games.
Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who represents the area near RFK, declares that “Building a stadium for a billionaire is just a horrible waste of taxpayer dollars. Build more housing. Recruit more jobs. More parks that could connect to Anacostia neighborhoods.”
We could not agree more. The District of Columbia faces an affordable housing crisis. This past week, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) released a report on gentrification. Of all the cities studied, Washington DC has the most intense gentrification with 40 percent of its census tracts gentrifying over the last thirteen years. Incredibly, 20,000 African-Americans moved out of these neighborhoods. Mayor Bowser recognizes the affordable housing crisis and has asked for more funding in her budget for affordable housing.
The current status of the abandoned stadium and land is untenable considering housing and job needs in the District of Columbia. Perhaps, Norton’s bill should be amended to either donate the land to the District or sell it at a substantial discount if the land is not used for a stadium but instead employed for housing, small business development, recreation, and other neighborhood needs. We recognize the imperative of local decision-making, especially for a city that remains a colony of the federal government without voting representation in Congress in 2019! However, Congress can certainly impose sensible conditions such as telling the city that it will charge full price for the land if the city contemplates using it for a team with a name that is a dictionary defined racial slur.
Would Congress be up to such an approach? Key decision-makers remain steadfast in their opposition to the name. The chief of staff to Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn) who leads the House Appropriations subcommittee on the interior maintains, “This (the Norton bill) does not change her perspective on the team name. She remains adamantly opposed to the team name.” Similarly, a spokesman for Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, declares, “I firmly believe that Congress should not send any message that we support or give our stamp of approval to the Washington football team’s racist name.”
An overwhelming number of policy, civil rights, and human rights considerations combine to oppose any Dan Snyder acquisition of the old RFK stadium. As columnist Colbert I. King puts it, acquiring the land is the right goal, but giving it to Snyder would be the wrong reason for the acquisition. If the process for deciding the fate of the land is fair and public, we are confident that the land will be employed for important neighborhood purposes other than buttressing racial stereotypes and slurs.

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RWF Urges Gov. Northam to Say No

3/6/2019

Blackface = Redface = Racism. RWF sends a letter to Gov. Northam urging him to refrain from offering any support or subsidies for a stadium in VA while the team retains a dictionary defined racial slur as a name. Download letter to read more.

rwf_letter_to_northam_final_030619.pdf
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A Bad Week for Mr. Snyder - MoCo Can Make it Worse

2/13/2019

Dear Members of the Montgomery County Council:

This week was a bad week for Daniel Snyder. Today, Governor Hogan announced he was abandoning his plans to pursue a new stadium in Maryland. This was probably due in part to the reluctance of the Prince Georges County Executive to spend public dollars on supporting infrastructure when so many pressing needs compete for scarce resources. And yesterday, Democrat Delegate David Moon re-introduced a bill to prohibit the expenditure of public tax dollars to support a stadium. This bill is also being introduced in the Virginia legislature by Republican Delegate Michael Webert and, and DC Councilmember David Grosso.

Why is this effort bi-partisan? Perhaps in part because elected officials are realizing that heavily subsidizing stadiums is a losing economic proposition. I also think, however, that they do not want to subsidize moral bankruptcy. This team has had a string of losing moral moves including mistreatment and exploitation of cheerleaders, hiring a running back that admitted to physical abuse of his child, and hiring a linebacker accused of domestic abuse that no other team would employ. This is the same moral bankruptcy that insists that a dictionary defined racial slur is an honor for Native Americans.

It is time to make it clear to Mr. Daniel Snyder that his business model is not welcome. He needs to change his ways or else his public reputation will continue to suffer damage, his team will become increasingly unpopular, attendance at the games will continue to shrink, and his profits will decline. People just sense that there is something rotten in the state of Fed Ex Field. That is why I have been advocating that Montgomery County follow the lead of Washington DC and Arlington County in passing resolutions urging Mr. Snyder to change the name. Let us make it clear that Mr. Snyder will continue to experience discomfort and will not find a home for his stadium until he does the right thing.

County Executive Elrich has publicly indicated to me via Facebook of all mediums that he intends to introduce a resolution asking for a name change. He needs a majority of the Council. I implore you to conjure up the moral courage and become a part of a majority that will strike a blow for civil rights and dignity for all peoples.

Thank you for your attention to this serious matter.

Sincerely,

Josh Silver
Co-Founder

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Ask MoCo Executive & Council to Take Stand

1/8/2019

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich indicated publicly to RWF that he supports a resolution asking Mr. Snyder to change the name of the team. We applaud his support. Now the hard part begins. We must work with the Executive to convince a majority of the Council to support a resolution.
If you live in Montgomery County, please consider writing a note to Mr. Elrich asking him to continue his support. Send a note to your councilmember asking for his or her support. State the following:
* The name is a dictionary defined racial slur
* The DC Council and the Arlington County Board passed resolutions asking Mr. Snyder to change the name.
* 2,000 high schools have eliminated stereotypical Native American mascots and logos.
* The American Psychological Association concluded that these mascots cause harm and interfere in the learning environment at school. See RWF letter below for more.
You can email Executive Elrich via: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/exec/
You can find the email for your councilmember here:
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/Council/

letter_to_executive_elrich_change_the_name_2019.pdf
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Oppose Effort to Relocate Team to DC

12/10/2018

The team is working with members of Congress and DC officials to add a provision to the budget bill to facilitate the team's relocation to DC. Please contact DC elected officials and your member of Congress to oppose this move. Attached is a letter we sent to Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. We also sent similar letters to the DC council. I live in Maryland and sent the following note to my senators and representative (Senator Van Hollen is important because he is on the appropriations committee that will consider the budget).

Sample Letter to Elected Official:
I am a constituent of Senator Van Hollen and I live in Bethesda, Maryland. I am also a co-founder of Rebrand Washington Football (RWF). We are a grassroots group of fans that advocate that the Washington football team change its name which is a dictionary defined racial slur. On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that the team is working with Congressional representatives and the Trump Administration to insert a provision in the budget bill that would facilitate a relocation to Washington DC. We oppose an end run around the public process for determining the future of the old RFK stadium location. We also oppose a relocation of the team’s stadium until they change the name. Please work to oppose this stealthy and underhanded move.

I am attaching a letter we sent to Rep. Norton. We sent versions of this letter to the DC Council and the Mayor as well. Thank you for your consideration of this important matter. If you want more background about us, our website is http://www.rebrandwf.org.

Best,

Josh Silver
Bethesda, MD

rwf_norton_letter_1218.pdf
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The Last to Shed a Racist Name?

12/7/2018

More than 2,000 high schools have shed Native American logos and mascots. In the last 25 years, 28 schools have shed the R-skins name. Will Daniel Snyder and the Washington R-skins be the last to shed a racist name? Check out our new report!

rwf_report_on_native_american_logos.pdf
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And Now Domestic Abuse?

11/29/2018

The team is rotten to the core. First, it was Mr. Snyder's stubborn refusal to change the name. Second, we learn over the summer that the team mistreated cheerleaders and exposed them to compromising situations in summer photo shoots. Add misogyny to the list. Third, the team hires a running back at the beginning of the season that beat his son with a whip. The graphic descriptions of these beatings are horrific. Anything to win seems to be the ethic. Fourth, the team rushes to employ a linebacker, Reuben Foster, that the 49ers released after he was arrested for domestic violence. No shame, and a team that enables this behavior. Today, two columnists in the Washington Post suggest that the team is losing the trust of its fans. Mr. Snyder's shameful behavior is adding up to empty seats at Fed Ex that are being taken out of service so the team can claim sell outs. Mr. Snyder has not yet reacted to moral suasion in a positive manner, exemplified by his clinging to a racist name. Perhaps if more fans tune out, don't watch the games on TV, and stop going to games, he might get the picture. Racism, misogyny, and domestic violence don't fill your seats.

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DC Mayor Caves - Wants Rskins Back

9/9/2018