The Washington Redskins face renewed pressure to change their nickname, but this time protesters are targeting their sponsors, Adweek reported.
According to Wednesday’s report, Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo received letters signed by 87 investment firms and shareholders worth $ 620 billion combined, asking companies to cut ties to the Redskins unless they change their controversial name. There has been more pressure in recent weeks to change his name given the social climate after George Floyd’s death in Minnesota.
The Redskins have contributed to some of those changes, removing former owner George Preston Marshall’s name from his ring of fame. Marshall was the last NFL owner to join his roster, and he did so only under government pressure to avoid losing a 30-year lease on federal land.
But Native American leaders want owner Dan Snyder to change the name, which the franchise has used since 1933. In the past, groups protested the name and tried to win in court. Those efforts failed. Investors are now appealing to sponsors, something a former high-ranking Redskins employee called “different.”
Adweek listed six investment groups in particular: First Peoples Worldwide, Oneida Nation Trust Enrollment Committee, Trillium Asset Management, LLC Boston Trust Walden Mercy Investment Services and First Affirmative Financial Network. The groups appealed to PepsiCo after Aunt Jemima’s image of her syrup dropped. In the letter, they praised Nike for its association with Colin Kaepernick, but noted: “However, Nike continues to provide uniforms and equipment to the Washington DC NFL football team that bears the logo and name.”
None of the sponsors made any comments, according to Adweek. FedEx, which has the stadium’s naming rights, referred the Redskins for comment. The team declined to comment Wednesday night. It was revealing, a source said, that none of the sponsors has come out in favor of retaining the name.
Carla Frederick, director of First Peoples Worldwide and director of the American Indian Law Clinic at the University of Colorado School of Law, told Adweek that “this is a broader movement that is happening now where indigenous peoples they are part”. She credited social media for helping them get a bigger voice.
“Indigenous peoples were excluded from the civil rights movement in the late 1960s in many ways,” he said, “because our conditions were so extreme on the reservations and our ability to participate publicly was very limited because of that. social media now obviously everything is different. “
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives, made clear what had to happen if the Redskins wanted to return to the district. It’s a stance she has taken in the past, but it serves as a potential stumbling block for the franchise if she wants to return to the district when her land lease at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland ends after the 2027 season. Washington is looking for sites in the district, Maryland and Virginia.
District officials made it clear they would like the franchise to return to the city, where it played until it left RFK Stadium after the 1996 season. The federal government owns the land, but Norton last year submitted a project. of law calling for it to be sold to the city at fair market value. According to the Post, there is a shared responsibility to decide how to develop the 190-acre property. Under the RFK Memorial Stadium Campus Transportation Act, the Mayor, the DC Council, and residents would share decision-making.
In any case, Norton reiterated its position on the franchise name for the Post.
“I call Dan Snyder once again to face that reality, as he still desperately wants to be in the nation’s capital,” Norton told the Post. “He has a problem that he cannot solve, and particularly cannot solve it today, after the murder of George Floyd.”
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser recently said on The Team 980 that it was “past time for the team to deal with [a name that] offends so many people. “
In the Washington Post article, DC Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio said, “There is no viable way, local or federal, for the Washington soccer team to return to Washington, DC, without first changing the team’s name.”
Snyder has insisted that he will not change the name. He once told ESPN that “the name really means honor, respect. We sing,” Hail to the Redskins. “We don’t say hurt anyone. We say, ‘Say hello to the Redskins. Brave on the warpath. Fight for old DC. “
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