The Washington Professional Football Team Announces Change To Racist Name

Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rally against racism, Native Americans and their supporters listen to the speakers

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The Washington Professional Football team and the offensive name for the squad have been a point of contention for critics and the team’s bull-headed owner, Dan Snyder. Today, perhaps relenting to the mounting pressure felt nationwide to recognize racism as an actual problem, the team announced it will retire its racist team name and will work on producing a new logo as well. The announcement was made via the team’s social media accounts and widely picked up by a variety of sports outlets locally in Washington and abroad. From the Washington Professional Football team’s homepage:

On July 3rd, we announced the commencement of a thorough review of the team’s name. That review has begun in earnest. As part of this process, we want to keep our sponsors, fans and community apprised of our thinking as we go forward. Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Washington Football Team name and logo upon completion of this review. The statement goes on to add that Snyder and head coach Ron Rivera will work closely together on crafting a new logo and team name. Some observers believe that Snyder went forward with the move after various sponsors pulled their financial support from the team, along with the still-mounting Black Lives Matter movement shouting down systemic racism and oppression. Across social media, and most especially Twitter, the reaction to the Washington Professional Football team’s retirement of the racist logo and team name has been frenzied as expected given the massive fanbase of the squad. We’ve got those reactions listed out below. — Photo: Getty