“Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!” President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Is this statement by the President a contrarian view? Or is it a reflection of a changing public sentiment?

Getty Images

As the NFL’s Washington Commanders seek approval to develop the RFK stadium campus and build out a new football stadium, they are set to hold public hearings on August 1st to hear the feedback of the community. With 520 people already slated to speak on Day 1, Mayor Muriel Bowser is urging D.C. residents to speak up in support of the project, which also includes commercial and residential development.

For residents who currently live in the neighborhood, there are two sides. While proponents lean into the positive and say D.C. will bring in just under $1 Billion a year in new business. Opponents are looking at the negative cost impact to the tax payers, and the need for even more housing and community investment.

Beyond those two sides of the coin, President Trump has another thought on his mind.

The team’s name.

More specifically, bringing back the former name of the team, The Washington Redskins, which the team held from 1933 to 2020, as part of the approval deal. Today, they are known as the Washington Commanders.

“I may put a restriction on them if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’” President Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I won’t make a deal for them to build a stadium in Washington.”

While the President technically doesn’t have a say, due to the land being transferred over to D.C. prior to his inauguration, (Congress passed a bill giving the District of Columbia more control over the 190-acre riverfront plot.) he does have a hand in both the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and U.S. Commission on Fine Arts (CFA) — two federal advisory bodies that weigh in on all design matters in the city. They will have a big role in deciding what the stadium actually looks like. And with that, they have the potential to make the Commanders life very hard if the Presidents asks the appointees to stand tall.

Trump’s social post continued “The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone. Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians.”

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Those comments from the President were follow-ups to his previous Truth Social post, “The Washington “Whatever’s” should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them.

This type of language from the President, is the polar opposite of the social climate of 2020, when society was very vocal about pushing back on the Redkins and Indians names, deeming them ‘culturally insensitive and inappropriate’. But this vote, and the Presidents post, has brought the topic of the Redskins and Indians back to light.

Why were the Redskins and Indians Names Replaced?

Only five years ago, the United States had a very different social perspective.

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, a nationwide empathy-fueled movement took hold of America. Alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers and corporations en masse began reevaluating, and revisiting everything within their control to see if they could be fairer and more empathetic.

For large-scale corporations, this moment presented an opportunity to review their moral compass as an organization. For two industries in particular, it meant examining the long-standing ethnic brand symbols on their products and evaluating them under a new lens.

Getty Images

In sports, teams have had a long-standing practice of naming their mascots after Native Americans. Adorned on some of the country’s most recognizable food brands are historically insensitive characters, known as ‘food mascots’.

For them, 2020 would become the year of the ‘great rebrand’.

In total, eleven college teams, two professional franchises and over a half a dozen food companies announced they were making changes to evolve or retire their culturally insensitive branding.

Across the grocery isles….

PepsiCo’s Aunt Jemima brand, which originally reflected a former slave, was retired after 130 years and rebranded as the Pearl Milling Company a year later.

B&G foods Cream of Wheat brand removed Rastus, the African-American man whose image adorned the packaging since 1893.

Mars Inc’s Uncle Ben’s brand became Ben’s Original, and the use of Ben image was removed from the branding.

Nestle’s Eskimo Pie was rebranded as Edy’s Pie moving away from the term “Eskimo,” which was deemed derogatory and inappropriate.

Land O’ Lakes removed the Native American “butter maven” image from their logo and packaging to “focus on the company’s identity as a farmer-owned cooperative.

Bettmann Archive

MORE FOR YOU

Across University Athletic departments from Midwestern State University to Quinnipiac University, mascots shifted. The Indians became the Mustangs, the Braves to Bobcats.

All of this leads me to the NFL’s Washington Redskins and MLB’s Cleveland Indians – the two most visible sports rebrands of this period.

The Washington Redskins, who were using the name and likeness of a Native American since 1933, became the Washington Football Team in 2020, before eventually landing on the name Washington Commanders soon thereafter.

The ownership group, up until then, had stated the team would “never” change its name, and argued that Redskins name honored Native Americans. But due to the climate in 2020, corporate sponsors, from FedEx to others, began being vocal about not wanting to associate their brands with the culturally insensitive name.

The Cleveland Indians changed their name to the Cleveland Guardians in November 2021. After decades of criticism regarding the team’s previous name and mascot, Chief Wahoo, which depicted the face of Native Americans. In 2018, the Indians retired use of Chief Wahoo on their jerseys and hats. The new name, Guardians, was a reference to the “Guardians of Traffic” statues on the city’s Hope Memorial Bridge.

Should There Be A Push To Revert The Names Back?

The name changes have sparked lively debate of fairness and sensitivity well beyond sports fans.

Did it not go far enough? The Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Braves weren’t pressured enough to change their names, even though they are both native American references. Or, did the pressure of the time push the agenda too far, too fast only causing people to regret it later?

Cleveland fans, by and large would like the Indians names back. In a recent poll conducted in the city shows that fans overwhelmingly want the Indians name back, and the return of their mascot, Chief Wahoo.

In Washington, last year’s winning ways for the franchise pushed their QB Jayden Daniels to have the #1 selling jersey in all of sports and Commanders merchandise skyrocketed 463% from 2023 to 2024. Once the playoffs began, the spike reached over 4000%. This success changed the sentiment with fans, pushing those who like it or love it to 50% warming up to the name.

Getty Images

Among Native American communities, the reactions are too mixed.

Groups such as Native American Guardians Assocaition, of fittingly abbreviated NAGA, have spoken out, the “Redskins / Redmen is a Native American iconic name and is revered by the vast majority of Native Americans and general public alike. Redskins / Redmen represents honor, respect and pride for Native American culture. Redskins / Redmen is and has been a self-identifying term for Natives since the early 1800s.” according to thier website.

While on the other side, groups such as 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance which became a key organizer of the Indians name change and a leader in the ongoing protests of Native American mascots, had been long active in the continuous support of Indigenous Rights.

Moving forward, it’s clear that consensus is still hard to find – and no one decision will make all happy. The court of public opinion holds power in this ongoing battle of what is right and what is not – it just depends on how society defines those terms at the time.