As published in The County Times (countytimes.somd.com), July 2020
By Ronald N. Guy Jr.
Bi-weekly status check: it has been 120 days since the
NBA suspended its season and the corona monster shut down sports and, largely,
our lives. Happy four-month
anniversary! Our fling with the
coronavirus has lasted longer than most high school relationships…and some
marriages!
As the calendar trickles past the July 4, baseball should
be preparing for the All-Star Game.
Instead, MLB hasn’t even started and the Midsummer classic was canceled
for the first time since World War II. Meanwhile,
the NBA’s attempt at bubble cities is floundering after several positive
COVID-19 tests and numerous cases with LSU and Clemson football players makes
any football this fall feel unlikely.
As for the rest of life and the sports world, much is
changing. In the wake of George Floyd’s
murder, America is having a passionate debate with itself. How will law enforcement and citizens,
particularly those of color, interact in the future? How will society’s cancerous racism be
overcome? What are acceptable displays
of American history? Obvious example: should
we continue honoring vestiges of the Confederacy – a nation that existed only
because of its secession from our union and largely to perpetuate the
subjugation of African Americans - with elaborate statues around the country?
The trend indicates America is undergoing a rebranding
and will re-emerge as a nation closer to the one documented long ago. This transition has spread to sports, where
the NFL did a curious but commendable about-face on Colin Kaepernick and player
protests, and debates have reignited over the use of Native American names and
imagery.
"We'll never change the name. It's that simple.
NEVER — you can use caps."
Washington owner Dan Snyder spoke those words to USA
Today Sports in 2013. It’s rarely wise,
in all things life, to use absolutes - just ask Rafael “I never used steroids” Palmeiro,
George H.W. “Read my lips: No new taxes” Bush and Nick “I’m not going to be the
Alabama coach” Saban, among many others.
Now seven years later, Snyder is navigating a
different world and is reportedly embracing what has always seemed inevitable -
a name and, presumably, a logo change. There
should be no struggle this time. No foolish
defiance. No misleading pride. No prioritization of profit over morality. This must happen.
As an ardent, lifelong supporter of the franchise, I
understand fans’ consternation. To many,
the current branding represents pride, Super Bowls and special times with loved
ones. But it is wrong to use a name for
a football team that would otherwise only be used to denigrate. It is wrong to profit off people whose land
was systematically taken and whose culture was willfully disregarded. The shameful treatment of native people by
European settlers on this continent and individual associations with a football
team cannot be conveniently separated. Similarly,
a Confederate flag cannot represent “southern pride” and not the Civil War and
slavery. The positive doesn’t cancel out
the negative - each coexist.
Moreover, the name’s source is long-time owner George
Preston Marshall – a segregationist who fought against NFL integration and
whose worldview resulted in Washington being the last NFL team to employ a
minority player (Bobby Mitchell). Is
that a legacy to perpetuate?
Snyder’s answer is now, apparently, an overdue
“no”. Is a change of heart behind his
shift in opinion? Doubtful. It is more likely an acknowledgment of the
inevitable and a play to long-term profitability. After all, Snyder deflected the heat seven
years ago with a cross-country tour of native reservations and the
establishment of the Original Americans Foundation. If you doubt that was a charade, search for
the OAF. There are dated fragments on
the team’s website but the foundation has no website, Facebook page or Twitter
account (at least that I could find).
Still, this is a unique moment in history and offers
Snyder another chance to set a new course for the franchise (even if its
impetus is more financial than moral).
This is Snyder’s last chance to at least create the illusion of a voluntary
act and a desire to do the right thing.
His next “all caps” declaration better be to announce the team’s new
name.
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