Let’s Be Honest, Pro Sports Teams Changing Racist Names Isn’t Ethics, It’s Money Talking
Washington’s NFL team released a statement this week stating they will undergo a formal review of the team’s racist name and logo.
It’s about time.
But let’s be honest, despite the team’s statement saying “in light of recent events around the country,” their true motivation is money.
The call to change the Washington NFL team’s name has been loud and present for over a decade, and ownership had state the change would not happen.
That is however, until money talked, and FedEx, the team’s stadium sponsor, and Nike, decided to pull the plug on the team. Pepsi soon after followed suit. Those are three major companies, meaning millions upon millions of losses for Washington, if they didn’t do the right thing, finally.
Let’s be clear. This team had no intentions of changing due to systemic racism. None. Zero.
It’s money that is pushing ownership, namely Dan Snyder, to finally take a look at the horrific name and logo, that has mocked Indigenous people since the organization was founded in 1932 in Boston.
Nike removed all of Washington’s apparel from their website.
Boom.
Edmonton’s CFL team also announced they’ll be conducting a review. Soon after Cleveland’s baseball team made a similar announcement.
Truly, there are others. Can we get the MLB Atlanta baseball team to make change? How about the NHL’s Chicago franchise to change their logo?
Systemic racism is real. Thousands upon thousands have been wearing these racist logos for almost a century, and thought nothing of it, because it’s engrained in our culture, our systems, our society.
Here is the statement from the Washington NFL team:
Here is the statement from the Edmonton CFL team:
Here is the statement from Cleveland’s MLB team:
Now we as a sports society need to hold these teams to this statement, and ensure the change happens once and for all.