Hail to the [Fill In The Blank]: Fight For New D.C.

At the "Racist Stereotypes and Cultural Appropriation in American Sports" Symposium at the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian on February 7th, one of the top issues was the nickname attributed to the team that has been in my hometown of Washington, D.C. since 1937: "Redskins".  Apparently, there were many people who walked into this symposium donning team apparel with a sense of pride in their local pro football team.  However, many of those people walked out with heavy hearts and regret once they realized just how "racist" and "demeaning" the term is to the Native American culture.  Furthermore, not one person in the audience stood up to defend the name--including any member of the franchise because no one answered the Smithsonian's invitation to participate.  I would have not only attended the symposium if I knew about it beforehand, but more important, I would've been in the majority of those who had nothing positive to say about this long-standing nickname.

Bob Lee, host of ESPN's Outside the Lines program, recently tackled this issue on his show last Friday.  To open this particular episode, a man gave the following quote regarding the term:

'Redskin' came from the time when bounties were given for Indian people during the French and English war when all you had to do was turn in some black hair or a patch of skin, and you could get paid for it.  That's where it came from.  Who wants to be remembered for that?

Many people ridiculed me for being a "Deadskins" fan for 31 years--most of them Cowboys fans--but it was a co-worker of mine who echoed the prior sentiment and was the most convincing figure in reconsidering my fandom.  I learned about the U.S. Supreme Court declining certiorari--a type of writ seeking judicial review--and refusing to hear a Native American group's appeal in November 2009 seven months after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the original 1999 ruling that the group waited too long to challenge the trademark.  Discovering this information created one of the biggest moral conundrums with which I've ever dealt: loving a team for so long whose claim to fame was largely built upon disrespecting other groups of people and who clearly has the law in their back pocket to protect their interests.

One of my first picture shoots that I remember taking was with my younger brother where both of us wore Washington T-shirts--though he ended up being a die-hard Giants fan.  The legendary John Riggins ran behind one of the most dominant and heralded offensive lines of all time, "The Hogs," at RFK Stadium--a mere 10-15 minutes away from my part of town.  The four-time NFL's Fastest Man and one of my favorite people that ever played the game in Darrell Green spent all 20 years of his Hall of Fame career here in the Nation's Capital.  More than anything, I have always been extremely proud that Doug Williams, the first African-American to start and win a Super Bowl, wore the burgundy and gold.  However, considering all of the previous negatives as well as growing tired of an organization who seemed more committed to selling seats and paraphernalia than actually winning, I officially turned in my fan card in the middle of the 2010 season--a season highlighted by Donovan McNabb being benched for Rex Grossman a.k.a. "Train Rex" and the team finishing last in the NFC East Division again at 6-10.

Unfortunately, I have largely stood alone.  One of my best friends has unsuccessfully tried to get me back on the bandwagon for the past two-and-a-half seasons.  He talked about the memories of his father taking him to games as a youngster and how a good amount of his team support is tied to that nostalgia.  Someone else implored of me that plenty of other teams have had racial issues in their pasts and to not be surprised if some still battle with discrimination and offensive behavior towards minority groups.  I had another co-worker compare being a fan of one's team to being involved in a marriage and couldn't understand how I could just "break up with someone" that I loved for so long.  However, nothing was worse than when I responded to an article on ESPN.com regarding the team and mentioned that I wasn't a fan anymore.  Before I could even state my position why, another user told me, "You never were a real fan! We don't need you, so f*** you!"  To all of these perspectives, I offer the following counter-arguments...

First, I understand the nostalgia aspect above any other, and I can only argue against it but so much.  However, my dad doesn't support Washington's NFL team for many of the same reasons and never took me to any games as a child; in fact, the first game that I ever went to was when I was 22 and got those tickets for free from my boss at the time.  Thus, I don't connect on the childhood memory level because my fandom has always been an independent decision and my memories were equally as independent since I was the only male fan of the hometeam in my household.  Second, I already know that other teams have soiled pasts, but neither was I once a die-hard fan of any of those other teams nor have I as much familiarity with their historic racism as I do with Washington.  Not saying that I don't care what goes on in other organizations, but it hits home more because it's right in my back yard and if that infraction is that close to me, then I can't just turn a blind eye to it for the sake of convenience.  Third, loving a football team is not the same thing as being married because I don't remember ever making a vow to the Lord to commit to the hometeam forever and Him holding me to it.  God would be so much more disappointed in me for divorcing Mrs. Scribbler than my city's NFL team, so that argument falls flat on its face.  Finally, the fact that someone thinks it's okay to curse out a complete stranger leads me to believe if that person was of another race and knew that I was Black, I wouldn't be surprised if he was uttering "nigger" under his breath during his tirade.  That action was the most extreme example of being way too defensive about something that doesn't need to be so fervently defended.

Here's another thought...in an area that still has a large concentration of African-Americans, it raises an eyebrow even more that many of us continue to wholeheartedly support this team.  In fact, many in the older generations of Black folk in the D.C. area are Dallas Cowboys fans strictly because of the team's racist history.  (They say you should never say never, but let's be clear: I will never be a Cowboys fan.  We just agree on this particular point of order.  Again...never.)  Set aside the fact that George Preston Marshall would've loved to prevent the American Nazi party from protesting the organization and continue the exclusion of Black players from his roster in lieu of succumbing to political pressure from The Washington Post and the Kennedy administration by being the last NFL franchise to integrate in 1962.  Table the fact that a lyric in the beloved fight song was changed from "fight for old D.C." to "fight for old Dixie" for three years before Bobby Mitchell's arrival to the team.  Momentarily forget Washington's questionable decisions regarding many of its Black players, especially at the quarterback position.  Simply consider the words of the most celebrated civil rights leader in American history: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."  Dr. King and many of the civil rights leaders of his time weren't just fighting for racial fairness and equality for Black people alone; they were fighting for everyone who had ever been discriminated against, oppressed and/or offended on the basis of race.

The hard truth is that many of us are not raising a fuss or changing our minds because it does not appear to directly affect us.  As many D.C. area natives and non-natives have surmised and concluded, many Washingtonians suffer tremendously from the "crab-in-a-barrel" mentality.  Translation for this particular situation: "We're too busy keeping each other down to care about somebody from another race being offended by a stupid nickname."  However, what if the team was named the "Washington Pickanigs" or the "Washington Pickaninnies"?  Considering the horrid memories those nicknames conjure up about lynchings of random Black men for mere entertainment or advertisements featuring exaggerated caricatures of Black children eating watermelon, I'm 200% positive that wouldn't go over well with the Black fanbase.  Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Minister Louis Farrakhan, and whatever other "representative" for our people would have our community up in arms.  The NAACP would bring it to the doorsteps of Dan Snyder and Commissioner Roger Goodell early and often.  I just see it like this: if you're ready to beat a non-Black person to a bloody pulp if their lips even look like they're about to form the word "nigger", then a Native American being offended by an equally disturbing racial slur should register on your sensitivity scale while you're chanting "Hail to the Redskins".

Then again, I think about Remember the Titans when Julius "Big Ju" Campbell (Wood Harris) responded to Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) regarding his attitude: "Attitude reflects leadership, captain."  I can't expect any member of the Washington fanbase to vehemently defend the Native American community when the executives of Washington's franchise defend the "legacy" as hardcore as they do.  Although he wasn't present at the aforementioned symposium, Washington's General Manager Bruce Allen made sure to offer the following response to recent criticism:

We represent an iconic sports franchise that is 81 years old, that involves millions of fans worldwide, that has thousands of alumni.  It's ludicrous to think in any way that we're trying to upset anybody.  We're proud of who we are and we're proud of what we're gonna be.

I understand that he has a strong connection to the team mainly through his father George Allen, who coached the team to its first Super Bowl appearance in 1972.  However, his remarks tinged with the idea that the nickname somehow "honors" the Native American culture are simply code for this: "We don't have enough courage to change the name. We don't want to lighten our wallets."  (Quite ironic when the original name of the team was the "Braves" for the first five years of the franchise's existence.)  Dan Snyder and previous owners have won legal battles partially because the court system agreed that changing the team's trademarks would drastically affect its financial stability.  So you mean to tell me that one of the primary reasons why Washington's pro football team is the 5th most valuable sports franchise in the world according to Forbes magazine is because of a racial epithet and the misrepresentation of an entire culture?  If you have to rely on an offensive nickname to sell tickets and merchandise instead of putting together a consistently competitive team, then you have a bigger problem on your hands.

So instead of being just a complainant, I offer the following suggestions.  First, change the doggone name.  If the Bullets could change their name to the Wizards--and as lame as "Wizards" sounds compared to "Bullets", I'm not mad at the switch overall--then the Redskins can change their name to the "Warriors" or the "Bravehearts".  Both nicknames are often associated with the Native American culture, but they are not limited to that culture.  I'd personally go with the latter name because 1) it flows better as a replacement in the fight song and 2) it's a tribute to the franchise's original name.  Second, replace the logo with the letters "W" or "B" in a similar style as the "R" logo from the 1970-71 season--and IMO, that was the best logo and helmet the team ever had.  Third, as much as he has become a staple at Washington games, please find another way to include Mr. Zema Williams a.k.a. "Chief Zee".  Unless he's one of the Black folk that actually has "Indian in his blood", he needs not dress up as if he does because it carries on the minstrelization that George Preston Marshall loved so much when he was the owner.  Matter fact, no one in the band should wear headdresses either; it mocks the hierarchical structure of one culture for the entertainment purposes of others.  Let's be real, Danny Boy: if you're that good of a business man, then rebranding a team shouldn't be as painful as you and your team of lawyers and advisors make it seem like it would be.  If anything, you might make even more money because you could potentially increase your fanbase even more--which could very well include some Washingtonians that the franchise ostracized decades ago and encouraged to be Cowboys fans.
 
Some people would argue from the platform that words only have as much power as one gives them; in many instances, I would contend the same.  Many people in my community try to validate their use of a racial slur against each other by saying that they've transformed one word rooted in hatred ("nigger") into a term of endearment ("nigga").  Being frank, it's a word that I've been guilty of using in the past and present, but for years, I've been making more of a conscious to eliminate it from my vocabulary completely because it has no place.  However, it comes down to what one man said on Outside the Lines in response to the defense of the nickname:

It's very interesting to me that if somebody says 'ouch', that somebody else is going to try to ask them to define how it hurts.  The reality is the reality: a person looks you in the eye and says 'I'm offended', and therefore, we should regard their truth as truth.

The NFL, the organization and many within the fanbase are telling the Native American community in so many words, "We don't care how much it offends you because it's our history and we're not letting go of it.  Just go cry in the car and get over it."  Until the organization recognizes how the nickname is less about retaining financial dominance or being politically incorrect and more about dredging up a horrible chapter in American history for yet another group of people who were oppressed and displaced, then they have lost a fan for good--and the number of former fans appears to be growing after this symposium.  "Fight for old D.C.," huh?  If only the powers that be knew what the "old D.C." represented...then again, maybe they do.