I was browsing some local turquoise at a gas station in the Pueblo of Pojaque in northern New Mexico last summer when a native man rolled down the window of his beat ’92 Ford pickup truck and shouted: “My favorite team.” He was pointing at me. I was wearing my old Washington Redskins shirt a lot those days after a similar encounter at the Palace of the Governors, the open-air Indian auction on the west side of the Santa Fe plaza. An older native man had spotted my shirt and introduced himself earlier in the summer. He raved about his love of the Redskins and expressed disappointment about the name change.
In northern New Mexico, most people are Broncos fans. But on the outskirts of its two small cities, Santa Fe and Taos, it’s not surprising to see native vehicles sporting Redskins bumper stickers. And though I am sure there are natives that believe the namesake is racist or oppressive, my purely anecdotal experiences in the native lands of this country suggest the issue is not so black and white as the motivated American press would have you believe.
It was Dan Snyder who changed the name the day before Independence Day at the height of the 2020 George Floyd mania. The billionaire former owner of the Redskins, Snyder had long promised he would never change the name, going as far as to tell gathered reporters in 2013 that they could print “NEVER” in all caps.
But less than a decade later, Snyder caved under public and corporate pressure. The press argued that Floyd’s death and nationwide race riots were evidence that team names such as the Redskins and the Cleaveland Indians played some consequential role in the creation of a cultural system that harbored racial animosity at its core. The corporations only cared about their bottom lines. Nike pulled all Redskins gear from its online store. Bank of America and Pepsi both signaled their discontent. And FedEx, which has held naming rights for the team’s stadium dating back to the ’90s, formally requested the team change its name.
American Indians were divided on the topic, and remain so. The largest, most representative Native organizations including the National Congress of American Indians spoke in support of the name change, going as far as to call the “Redskins” branding a slur that perpetuated ill stereotypes of its people. But a Washington Post poll from 2016 that surveyed more than 500 Indians countered that narrative and found that nine in 10 self-identified natives said they weren’t offended by the name. Furthermore, the Native American Guardians Association, a small but vocal group of natives, argued the name honored their people.
Speaking with Fox News on Monday, the former Redskins defensive lineman and Native American Jason Buck argued that in all the years he spent with the team he never encountered anyone who had an issue with the term and that he was honored to play for the Redskins as a native.
“I’m a Native American, so I’m a real Redskin and a proud one,” Buck said. “The Redskin is our name. The first written record of the use of the word Redskin was from a Native American chief from the Illinois tribe… writing to a British military colonel about us, the Redskins. It’s our word. The European words are Indian and savage and now indigenous.”
I’m not a Native American, but I did grow up a diehard Redskins fan. Back then, before the internet, you didn’t pick your favorite players and teams based on highlight reels or TikToks. I lived south of DC, so I was a Redskins fan. It was a curse, really. Being a Redskins fan in those years meant I suffered. They lost. A lot. I watched DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick torch the Skins. And I can remember the short-lived and much-hyped career of the quarterback and #2 overall draft pick Robert Griffin III, who set the league on fire before his knee gave out in that awful Wild Card game against Seattle. Griffin tore both his ACL and LCL in the loss, and he was never the same. He’d wash out of the league a few years later. The Redskins remained as bad as ever.
To this day, my father hangs his head when he recounts the Griffin situation. “He should’ve never been in the game,” he’ll mutter when it comes up. And my dad is right. The injury not only ended Griffin’s career; it haunted then-coach Mike Shanahan for the rest of his coaching days, with fans forever questioning why Griffin had been allowed on the field when he was already injured. The Griffin moment sums up what the Redskins were under Dan Snyder—mismanaged, sacrificial, and nearsighted. And it explains why Snyder killed one of the powerful and iconic brands in American sports.
Despite the many losing seasons under Snyder’s leadership in the early 21st century, Forbes repeatedly named the Washington Redskins as one of the most valuable NFL franchises. And in 2013, the magazine named the Redskins as one of the 20 most valuable sports brands in the entire world. At that time, it was only the most progressive of American voices who demanded (to little real fanfare) that something must be done to rid the league of what they viewed as offensive and controversial.
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King was among the most aggrieved media members in the years leading up to the name change. “Try explaining and defending the nickname to a child,” King wrote in 2013. “It’s impossible.” Don’t tell King this, but around here in rural Virginia, people use the term Redskins all the time. In front of kids too. In fact, my 7-year-old nephew says Redskins and Commanders interchangeably. And why wouldn’t he? They are, no matter what Dan Snyder and FedEx and Peter King believe, still and forever the Redskins to those of us who grew up fans.
And it’s not just fans of the Redskins who still use the name. Players still use it as well. The linebacker Von Miller, a veteran in the league who signed with Washington this week, called the Commanders the Redskins during his introductory press conference. “The Washington Redskins called me a month and a half ago and started talking,” Miller said Thursday. “I am so excited to be here.”
One of the best ways we ever showed respect to the conquered people who lived here before was to name one of our great American sports franchises in their name and likeness. And though President Trump’s recent call for the team to bring back the Redskins name is well-timed red meat for his increasingly-disappointed fan base, he isn’t wrong. “The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday.
Trump’s call for action comes as the organization, now helmed by the investor Josh Harris, is negotiating with the city of Washington, DC for a new stadium. The president has upped his calls for a rebrand by threatening to impose unspecified “restrictions” that would scuttle the deal until the name is restored. Harris and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser have indicated they plan to move forward with the Commanders name and the current stadium project regardless of Trump’s threats, which hold little real power unless Congress, DC officials, and federal planning boards sign off on the name change.
Trump’s latest call for a rebrand could threaten plans to move the Redskins stadium from Northwest Stadium (formerly FedEx Field) in Maryland back to the site of its former home in the District. It’s a deal that Bowser and DC officials have worked to complete for nearly a decade. Congress and President Joe Biden pushed forward the plan when they approved a transfer of land from the federal government to the District of Columbia in late 2024. Nothing in the stadium deal requires Trump’s presidential approval, and, though an agreement could be overruled by Congress, it’s unlikely that would occur.
I still root for the Commanders, regardless of the name change. Though I’d prefer the original mascot to be restored, I’ll always be cheering on the burgundy and gold come autumn. That’s part of the curse I mentioned earlier. When you are a real fan, it’s damn near impossible to abandon your team. But restoring the Redskins moniker would be a decisive victory over the modern morality police who transformed our society over the last decade in spite of fair objections. That the Redskins name is still a discussion is evidence that millions of Americans, and especially fans of the Hogs, would like their country back.
Subscribe Today
Get daily emails in your inbox
Driving across Navajo Nation last year, I couldn’t help but consider how I view natives. I think the people here before had a different sort of wisdom. That they were great warriors and great artists; they looked toward their souls and out into the universe in specific ways that are common to all people regardless of ethnicity around the entire world. And they could be evil and savage and terrible to one another, just like all people. But, most importantly, America would not and could not exist if the people here before were the people who built today. It’s why we honor them in our own way, by emblazoning the uniform of one of our great sporting franchises with a likeness that recalls the special relationship America shares with its people from before.
So restore the Redskins. Rename the Commanders. Make whole again what was the American experience, warts and all. Use the name to pay homage to the people who roamed the plains. Dedicate some small part of the team’s profits to the reservations in our America, which too often resemble third-world countries. Play a game each year in Gallup, New Mexico, and offer a 10 percent discount to natives who attend. There are many ways in which the NFL and the Washington Commanders specifically can pay tribute to the native tribes of our America without completely abandoning the mascot.
I’ve got my old Redskins shirt hanging in the closet in anticipation of the new season. Here’s hoping the Commanders can build off the surprising success they found in 2024 with the talents of #1 quarterback pick Jayden Daniels. He and the team were a revelation last year, and gave many of us who have been scarred by the losing and the branding tug-of-war a reason to look positively toward the future. Now, if we can just get the name back. Here’s hoping.
