{"id":177539,"date":"2025-07-28T16:21:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T21:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=177539"},"modified":"2025-07-28T16:27:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T21:27:35","slug":"cronkite-news-indian-country-continues-to-oppose-racist-imagery-in-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2025\/07\/28\/cronkite-news-indian-country-continues-to-oppose-racist-imagery-in-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Indian Country continues to oppose racist imagery in sports"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Washington<\/a>
Imagery from the Washington professional football team is seen outside of the White House in Washington, D.C., on September 12, 2023. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Native groups denounce Trump over threat to block Commanders stadium unless team reverts to name widely seen as a racial slur<\/div>\r\n
Monday, July 28, 2025<\/div>\r\n
By Derry Lenehan<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWASHINGTON — Native American groups have hit back at President Donald Trump\u2019s threat to block a new stadium for the Washington Commanders if the team does not bring back its former name — a term that Native Americans view as a slur.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe team dropped that moniker and related logos in 2020 after years of pressure from indigenous groups.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe Washington \u2018Whatever\u2019s\u2019 should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington R\u2014\u2014- Football Team,\u201d Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social, using the team\u2019s old name. And he threatened to block a deal for a new stadium that would bring the team back to the capital from suburban Maryland.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe president likely has the power to scuttle or at least impede the stadium deal because the federal government has ultimate authority over the District of Columbia.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nOn January 6, two weeks before leaving office, President Joe Biden signed a short-term spending bill into law that included a provision transferring control of land for the stadium to the D.C. government for the next 99 years.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe stadium would be built on the site of the old Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium<\/a> two miles east of the Capitol. The team played there for 36 seasons, from its opening in 1961 until 1996. It was renamed for RFK \u2013 father of the current secretary of health and human services \u2013 in 1969, the year after his assassination while running for president.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe team and the D.C. city government struck a deal in April that would have the Commanders invest $2.7 billion toward a new 65,000 stadium, with the city contributing about $1.1 billion. City leaders envision a 170 acre development that would rejuvenate that part of the city.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe president cannot unilaterally rescind the district\u2019s control of the land.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nBut he could cause disruptions through the National Capital Planning Commission, which must approve the design.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe president directly appoints three of its 12 commissioners, plus three agency heads who also sit on the commission. Republican congressional leaders also serve, meaning that Trump allies vastly outnumber the city\u2019s designees.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe team changed its name and logo in July 2020. Protests over racism and police killings were at their peak and the team had faced criticism for years for using a name that Native American groups \u2013 and the Oxford Dictionary, among others \u2013 describe as dated and offensive.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nFor two seasons the team was called simply the Washington Football Team, becoming the Commanders in February 2022<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nOn Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was serious about his threat to derail the stadium deal if the team refused to revert to the name it had used from 1933 to 2020.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nShe asserted that he had the support of local residents and football fans.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cIf you actually poll this issue with sports fans across the country, and even in this city,\u201d she said, \u201cpeople actually do support the president\u2019s position on this.\u201d\r\nNative American groups are vehemently opposed, however.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe Association on American Indian Affairs reiterated its view that sports mascots with Native American themes do not honor indigenous peoples but rather reduce them to caricatures.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe idea that Native Nations broadly support the use of these mascots is false,\u201d the group said in a statement. \u201cHundreds if not thousands of Native Nations, Native organizations, scholars, and youth leaders have repeatedly and clearly expressed that Native \u2018themed\u2019 mascots are offensive and dehumanizing.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Press\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPress Release: National Congress of American Indians continues to oppose racist imagery in sports\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t

\u201cAny attempt to distract by invoking our names and purporting to speak for our communities is an affront to Tribal sovereignty and is not taken lightly,\u201d said President Mark Macarro.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"Indianz.Com\"\t\tIndianz.Com\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe National Congress of American Indians also condemned Trump\u2019s stance, saying it \u201cunequivocally opposes\u201d any effort to revive mascots that demean Indigenous communities.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cImagery and fan behaviors that mock, demean and dehumanize Native people have no place in modern society,\u201d the group\u2019s president, Mark Macarro, said in a statement<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nTrump has publicly advocated for the previous, offensive name at least since 2013.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWhen then-President Barack Obama described the name as inappropriate, Trump chastised him on Twitter, writing that \u201cour country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them, not nonsense.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nCommanders owner Josh Harris, who bought the organization for $6 billion in 2023, said in February that players and fans alike have embraced the current name and he did not intend to change it again.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nTrump has also sought to pressure the Cleveland Guardians, a Major League Baseball team, to revert to a name it abandoned in 2022.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nA group called Cultural Survival blasted Trump.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cCalls to bring back racist mascots and slurs in sports are outdated and harmful. Indigenous communities have worked for decades to end offensive stereotypes and demand respect in public life,\u201d the group said in a statement.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWhile tribal advocacy groups overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump\u2019s pressure campaign, a group called the Native American Guardians Association sees no problem.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThat group lauded his \u201ccall to return common sense and sanity back to our nation. \u2026 Virtually all Americans, to include American Indians, are fed up with cancel culture.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nFor more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>. It is published via a Creative Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM>
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