Rebranding Politicized

I was naively hoping that the effort to rename the Washington professional football team would not be politicized. After all, it is a human rights issue. If you are a Native American, it does not matter if you are a Democrat or Republican. The team's name and mascot are appropriating your identity. It would be the same for any racial or ethnic group whose identify was usurped by a team using a slur for the name of your group. Today's Washington Post reports that the next Secretary of the Interior could be Sarah Palin who has opposed changing the name. The Secretary of the Interior effectively controls the fate of RFK stadium that sits upon federally-owned land. The Secretary has the power to grant or refuse to grant a lease to Dan Snyder to use any stadium that sits atop the land. The Interior Secretary of the outgoing Obama Administration indicated that she would refuse to grant a lease to Mr. Snyder until he changes the name. Mr. Snyder has indicated an interest to move the team back to the old RFK stadium site. However, Ms. Palin would have no such compunction in dealing with Mr. Snyder. It is sad that a human rights issue is likely to become politicized. We will keep struggling and fighting, however. 

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2016/11/11/trump-could-be-d-c-s-ally-in-bringing-redskins-to-rfk/ for the article.