The Washington Football Team eliminated at least one potential option for the team’s new moniker.
Washington’s president Jason Wright said in a release on the team’s website that the new name will not feature anything related to Native Americans. Wright said the new name should bring in more people to support the team and that the new name shouldn’t be offensive to anyone.”With this in mind, we made it a priority to run an inclusive process to listen to all voices. We have given particular emphasis to engaging, listening and learning from Native American leaders and individuals throughout the country,” Wright said.
“This process has exposed to us the very deeply-held personal feelings about our previous imagery and association – and not just the simple, easy-to-categorize ‘who’s for or who’s against’ polling of our old name, but research revealing the psychological effects of Native American team names on American Indian and Alaska Native youth.
“In sum, this engagement demonstrated to us a consensus that moving forward with no ties to Native American imagery is the right path. I am personally and deeply grateful for the Native American community leaders who engaged with us, sharing painful, raw and real stories that persist to this day.
