“We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that the team be renamed,” FedEx told CNN Business in a statement.
The delivery services company, which sponsors and has naming rights to the stadium the Washington team plays in, released its statement after more than 80 groups and shareholders investing in the company sent a letter to the FedEx CEO , Frederick Smith, asking him to “end his business and public relations” with the franchise because of the name.
CNN Business has also reached out to the NFL and the team for comment.
In the letter to Smith, investors, who said they represent more than $ 620 billion in assets, noted that the word “redskins” remains a “dehumanizing word that characterizes people by skin color and insult. racial with hateful overtones. “
“Virtually every major national American Indian organization has denounced the use of Native American and Indian related images, names, and symbols that belittle or offend American Indian peoples, with more than 2,000 academic institutions removing ‘Indian’ sports references.” they wrote.
“In light of the Black Lives Matter movement that has focused the world’s attention on centuries of systemic racism, we are witnessing a new wave of opposition to the team’s name,” wrote the investors. “Therefore, it is time for FedEx to live up to the magnitude of this moment, for its opposition to the team’s racist name to be clear and take tangible and meaningful steps to put pressure on the team to stop using it.”
The letters to Nike and Pepsi echoed that language. In the letter to Nike CEO John Donahoe, for example, investors acknowledged that Nike “has taken steps to be more transparent about its diversity in the workforce.” Investors also noted that Nike “helped keep the public conversation about systemic racism and police brutality alive” by launching an ad campaign with Field Marshal Colin Kaepernick, who knelt down during the National Anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice while playing in the league.
“However, Nike continues to provide uniforms and equipment” to the Washington NFL team, investors said, adding that “this association and facilitation of the racism inherent in the name and logo runs counter to the sentiments expressed by the company”.
As of Thursday night, it appeared that Nike’s Redskins-branded merchandise was not available in the Nike online store. However, merchandise representing all other NFL teams was included. Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
– Jill Martin contributed to this report.
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