The whole controversy surrounding the name of the Washington Redskins has been going on for years now. The more time that passes, the screams for the name to be changed seem to get louder and louder, along with more pressure from certain people. One of those people now happens to be the most powerful man in the country in President Obama, who isn’t jumping on the bandwagon to change the name but is making it clear it’s something that needs to be talked about.
@IamJoeSports
At the White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington D.C., Adidas announced that it will lead a nationwide voluntary initiative for high schools who want to change mascot names and identities. As part of the program, adidas will offer its design resources to any high school in America who wants to change their logo or mascot from potentially harmful Native American imagery or symbolism. They’ll also provide financial assistance to ensure that the transitions aren’t cost prohibitive.
“Sports have the power to change lives,” said Eric Liedtke, Adidas Group executive board member in attendance at the White House Tribal Nations Conference. “Sports give young people limitless potential. Young athletes have hope, they have desire and they have a will to win. Importantly, sports must be inclusive. Today we are harnessing the influence of sports in our culture to lead change for our communities. Adidas is proud to provide a pathway for high schools and communities who want to create new identities.”
As you might expect, the Redskins didn’t take too kind to that and fired back with a statement that accused Adidas of profiting off uniforms of pro teams that have names related to Native Americans. When the POTUS is against you though, you might have some problems.
The President released the following statement:
I want to give credit to Adidas and I know a number of their officials are here today. They have really come up with a smart, creative approach, which is to say, alright, if we can’t get states to pass laws to prohibit these mascots, then how can we incentivize schools to think differently? And so what adidas has done is it has said to the two thousand plus schools that still have Native American/Alaskan Native mascots. It’s said, you know what, we will work with you to redesign your entire sports brand. I don’t know if Adidas made the same offer to a certain NFL team here in Washington, but they might want to think about that as well. I’ll tell you, for Adidas to make that commitment it’s a very smart thing to do, because those schools now really don’t have an excuse. What they are saying is that one of the top sports companies in the world, one of the top brands in the world is prepared to come in and use all their expertise to come up with something that is really going to work and that the entire community can feel proud of and can bring people together and give a fresh start and I really want to give them a lot of credit.”
The Redskins may not want to admit it but there will likely come a time where they have to change the name. The topic is not going away and if anything will grown bigger and bigger.
