Some Thoughts on Racist Sports Franchise Names and White Supremacist Sports Fans

Hey, Washington professional North American football fans! I'm sure your franchise is gonna be sitting around, trying to figure out new names and logos now that FedEx, who has naming rights to your arena, has requested your favorite team change their name or lose out on some sweet, sweet dinero. I would like to be of assistance, white Washington football fans (and privileged persons of culture who love their Washington team). I’ve scoured the interwebs, I’ve Googled and Binged and Internet Explored (kidding about that last one; I wouldn’t touch Internet Explorer with a ten-foot pole) and I think I’ve struck paydirt! Here are some logos and name ideas for y’all! I think these would all be great choices!

What's wrong? You're mad? Do you think these images are racist? That I'm being a reverse racist? Well, guess what?

You can miss me with that nonsense with the same vigor your favorite team reserves to ensure that they keep missin' the Super Bowl.

Washington sports fans, your team has had this tasteless name since 1933, a year after the team was founded. Nineteen Thirty Damn Three. Before your favorite team settled on the racist name y'all know and love them for (which I refuse to write here) your franchise was called the Washington Braves. I mean, wow, Washington fans. Your favorite team actually changed their name to something MORE racist than the name they started with! I mean, that’s impressive. Y’all went and jumped right into the heart of the tornado instead of driving away to safety. That takes a level of white supremacy-driven guts that would be marginally admirable if it wasn’t so damn dangerous, toxic, and traumatizing.

The original owner of your favorite team was the last owner in the National Football League to integrate his team. Your team's logo is a damn stereotype, a relic of a time where racism and the mistreatment and harming of Indigenous folx was A-OK to pretty much every white person in the United States. Hell, it still is.

Washington football fans. Be real with me here. Y’all think it's OK that this team continues using this racist imagery and tasteless branding? In 2014, The Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin asked FedEx shareholders to reconsider the naming-rights agreement they signed with your team but, according to the Memphis Business Journal, shareholders voted to stick with company officials and continue the business relationship. Do y’all think it’s OK for Indigenous tribes to have to practically beg and petition for you all to see that you’re perpetuating white supremacy and the erasure and commodification of Indigenous people? To see how harmful your mascot and imagery are? And now, with everything going on, FedEx wants to be on the right side of history and finally try to push for change. Are y’all not turned off by this blatant performative allyship? I mean, are you not even remotely disgusted that it took three multi-billion dollar organizations - FedEx, Pepsi, and Nike - threatening to make some multi-millionaires and billionaires with ownership stakes in a major sports franchise a little less wealthy (people who only care about your money) to even get them to "review" this racist mess? Why is a damn review even needed?!

If you’re going to be racist, Washington football fans, at least own it. Quit hiding behind “tradition.” Quit acting like your memories will be “tarnished” if your favorite team changes its name. It doesn’t “erase history.” Those are all white supremacist talking points - the same talking points being used right now to defend why confederate flags and monuments shouldn’t be taken down.

You know what, Washington football fans? I hope they change the name of your team to something mundane and uninspiring, like the Politicians or something. Hell, I hope they name your favorite team the Whities or the Caucasians. Why? Because it's your turn to have your ethnicity, race, and culture commodified as a caricature and used as a mascot outside of labeling yourselves Patriots and Cowboys.

Then again, they'll probably just name the team the Settlers or Colonizers or something. I mean, Washington fans obviously like racist names and imagery so they might as well stay in their wheelhouse.