87 Years Later, Washington’s Football Team Finally Dumps its Racist Name

They were the Washigton “Redskins” for 87 years.

It’s official, today the Washington Football Team aka Redskins settled on a new name moving forward. Introducing your…. Washington Commanders? I and much of the DC fanbase came to like the name Washington Football Team. It was unique and unassuming in an almost European Football way.

It was the one name that had no sides, just one cause and that cause was football in Washington DC. But hey, let’s just be happy the Washington Commanders find themselves once again creating their own version of the right side of history. This was long overdue and depending on who you talk to, the expiration date on the moniker ‘Redskins’ could very well stretch back 87 years. Let’s get some historical facts out of the way real quick. 

The future of Washington football is here #TakeCommand pic.twitter.com/MwkCLTkVAA

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) February 2, 2022

The Boston Braves were founded in 1932 before changing their name to the Boston Redskins the following year. What, racism in Boston? Who knew?

An early iteration of a logo that would become one of the many focal points of social justice for Native Tribes of North America was found on early sweaters and jerseys but vanished from branding in 1937 when the team moved to Washington DC. Fast forward to 1973 when the logo reappeared on helmets and the first tribes met with team officials to declare the logo a racial epithet and here we are today. 50 years later, the Commanders.

1938 ‘World Champion’ Washington Redskins.

After decades of the franchise standing by the Redskins moniker and owner Daniel Snyder defending the name repeatedly publicly, the team caved making room for the Washington Football Team in 2020. I guess hiring the first Black President in the wake of racist accusations and the hiring of Julie Donaldson, the highest-ranking female employee, as the Senior Vice President of Media just wasn’t enough. The latter hire came on the heels of a lawsuit that had 15 female employees and two reporters basically comparing the Washington offices to the Playboy mansion in its heyday. It must’ve sucked having your beloved Redskins name and logo forced from your hands of the past and whisked away by your own doings.

Not really, it was only a matter of time and the Redskins had plenty of it to do this on their own without the pressures of investors and advertisers. 

So onward and upward. The Commanders will hide under the guise of the military in the name of inclusivity. The ‘W’ logo honors the ranking system of the Armed Forces and depicts the show of forward movement, imagine a worm in 3d.

New name, new marks pic.twitter.com/KxN5pWg4X1

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) February 2, 2022

I love and respect our troops but I won’t even get started on the varying uses of the National Guard when it comes to “peaceful” protests in one Washington DC. But alas I digress. As long as Snyder owns the team they might as well just be called the ‘irrelevants’. Or as they call them in New York, the ‘Knicks’. I actually do like the new look and hey, we can all agree on one thing: It’s not the Redskins. 

One legacy. One unified future.

We are the Washington Commanders #TakeCommand pic.twitter.com/Eav9NOV5Mm

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) February 2, 2022