Mark Trahant: NFL doubles down on bad manners and racist mascots

Tuesday, April 30, 2019  

The NFL is doubling down on its bad manners.

According to the Sporting News, the NFL has filed a trademark application for the Duluth Eskimos and the league apparently plans to put the name to use in a single game.

Erin Swartz, the Vikings brand and creative director, told the Duluth News Tribune the team was lobbying to wear a throwback jersey featuring the Eskimos for one of the team's games. "They're just so cool looking," Swartz said. "I will feel like I won the lottery if we get to play a game in those."

Uh. No.

The NFL has filed a trademark application for DULUTH ESKIMOS.

The trademark application suggests that a NFL team could play a game as the DULUTH ESKIMOS this coming year.

Here is my analysis of the filing 👇#nfl pic.twitter.com/67jHP6nlME

— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) April 30, 2019

The Canadian Football League’s Edmonton team has been under pressure to change its name. Two weeks ago a tweet from the CFL News said it was changing its name to the Edmonton Empires. However, Allan Watt, a communications official with the Edmonton franchise, said the team has not decided to change its name. The CBC reports that the team has been “struggling with accusations that their team name is outdated and disrespectful.”

“This is something that's been our name since 1910,” Watt told the CBC, “and we want to make the right decisions, not quick decisions. We'd be remiss if we didn't do extensive research, if we didn't do it thoroughly and if we didn't do it in the north ... none of us should pretend to speak for people who are Inuit."

The Edmonton Eskimos may not be known as the Edmonton Eskimos for very much longer. According to unnamed sources, the Edmonton Football Club is 2 years in to a long term plan to change their name from the Edmonton Eskimos to the Edmonton Empire. - @PifflesPod #CFL #Esks

— CFL News (@CFL_News) April 15, 2019

Last month McGill University in Montreal announced it was dropping the name of its men's varsity sports team, the Redmen. Suzanne Fortier, McGill's principal and vice-chancellor, said the name made Indigenous students feel alienated.

You think?

The Vikings will have to contest the Canadian trademark in order to use the uniforms. The original Duluth franchise played in 1926 and 1927.

There is an irony in the Minnesota franchise use of this mascot. When the Washington NFL franchise plays in Minnesota there are often protests with thousands of people in front of the stadium.

A post last November in The Undefeated said: ”Native American mascots are slowly disappearing from sports, but Washington’s football team might be the last to change.”

Apparently not.

Mark Trahant is the editor of Indian Country Today. He is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Follow him on Twitter @TrahantReports.

This story originally appeared on Indian Country Today on April 30, 2019.