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The Washington Redhawks was a culture jam created by a group of Native Americans to draw attention to the Washington Redskins name controversy. In 2020, the team retired the Redskins branding amidst the removal of many names and images as part of the George Floyd protests. The football team was renamed the Washington Commanders in 2022.

Action

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On December 13, 2017, a Native American group, Rising Hearts, created several authentic-appearing websites and a Twitter campaign,[1] that seemed to announce that the Washington Redskins had agreed to change its name to the Washington Redhawks for the 2018 season. The sites included one for the team,[parody 1] and for several news outlets: The Washington Post,[parody 2] ESPN,[parody 3] Sports Illustrated[parody 4] and the Bleacher Report.[parody 5][2][3][4] After an initial period, a disclaimer was posted on each spoofed page with a link to a press release explaining the group's action.[5]

The organizers describe their tactic as culture jamming, and state that their intention is to stimulate debate that will eventually lead to an actual name change.[6] Rather than presenting the continued hostility of the debate, their action provided an opportunity for change advocates to write about the positive responses and outcomes that would follow the change.[7]

Rising Hearts Coalition included Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee Nation), Sebastian Medina-Tayac (Piscataway), Valarie Marie Proctor (Cedarville Band of Piscataway), Jair Carrasco, (Aymara), Lindsay Rodriguez (Cheyenne Arapaho), Jordan Marie Daniel (Kul Wicasa Oyate) and Nick Courtney (Makah).[8]

Response

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The Washington Redskins posted a message on their own web site stating: "This morning, the Redskins organization was made aware of fraudulent websites about our team name. The name of the team is the Washington Redskins and will remain that for the future."[9]

At a news conference the following day the organizers of Rising Hearts stated that their effort was satire or parody, and were surprised that the Redskins issued a statement denying any plans to change, as if it were serious, or "fake news".[10]

Reaction to the "culture jam" was varied among Native Americans depending upon whether the action was taken seriously or recognized for what it was. Some who took it seriously were elated, then felt betrayed when they found out it was not true.[11] However, the action was supported by some long-time activists on the issue including Suzan Shown Harjo and Jacqueline Keeler, who agreed that it served to stimulate new attention.[12] In an interview, the organizers took exception to the framing of their action as a "hoax", which has negative connotations of intending to mislead, which was not their intent.[13]

Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell wrote based upon his experience when his alma mater, Amherst College, changed its mascot in 2016 from "Lord Jeff" to the "Mammoths". Although he was as attached to his team's mascot as any fan, he understood the reason for the change, and got over it quickly. The reason was letters that were discovered revealing that Lord Jeffery Amherst had advocated the use of smallpox-infected blankets as a weapon against Native Americans not to defeat, but to exterminate them. "Nicknames such as the Lord Jeffs and the Redskins are two illustrations of the same issue. In the beginning, no one means any harm. But once you know better, and don’t change, that's when the harm starts."[14] Boswell later explained that while dropping the team nickname, which was never official, was no big deal; changing the name of the town and college also named for the same person would be difficult.[15]

In Forbes, Demetrius Bell compliments the creators, stating "The best part of any hoax is ultimately how believable the hoax could be and from top to bottom, this is one of the more believable hoaxes that you'll see. If the team did indeed make the incredibly shocking decision to change their nickname and logo, then it wouldn't be a huge shock to see them go the conservative route with a change as relatively simple as this."[16]

In July 2020, the team retired the Redskins branding amidst the removal of many names and images as part of the George Floyd protests.[17][18] On February 2, 2022, the team was renamed the Washington Commanders.

Parody websites

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  1. ^ "Go Washington Redhawks!". washingtonredhawks.com. December 13, 2017. Archived from the original on November 11, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  2. ^ "Native Leaders Celebrate a Victory as Washington Football Changes Mascot to the Redhawks". washpostsports.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  3. ^ "Dan Snyder honors Native Americans, changes team mascot to Washington Redhawks". espnsports.news. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  4. ^ "Washington Football Ditches Controversial Name for Redhawks". sportsillustrated.news. December 13, 2017. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  5. ^ "Washington Redskins Will Change Name to Washington Redhawks". bleacherreport.news. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.

References

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  1. ^ "#GoRedhawks". twitter.com. December 13, 2017. Archived from the original on February 25, 2022. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  2. ^ Rick Maese (December 13, 2017). "American Indian activists seek to rekindle debate on Redskins nickname". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  3. ^ Travis Waldron (December 13, 2017). "Native American Activists Create Spoof Website To Call For Redskins Name Change". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on February 25, 2022. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  4. ^ Staff (December 13, 2017). "Fake websites that say Redskins changed name make rounds". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on December 17, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  5. ^ "Red Hawks Press Release" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-01-27. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  6. ^ Benjamin Freed (December 13, 2017). "How a Group of Native American Activists Used Fake News to Push for a Redskins Name Change". The Washingtonian. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  7. ^ David Roth (December 13, 2017). "Amazing Online Hoax Welcomes "Washington RedHawks" To The NFL". Deadspin. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  8. ^ Kevin Abourezk (December 13, 2017). "Native activists go viral with 'Redhawks' campaign aimed at NFL team's racist mascot". Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  9. ^ "Statement from the Washington Redskins". Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  10. ^ Samantha Pell (December 14, 2017). "'Washington Redhawks' organizers claim success, say articles were satire, not 'fake news'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  11. ^ Dave Zirin (December 19, 2017). "The Washington Redhawks Culture Jam: Jacqueline Keeler joins the show to talk native mascotry" (Podcast). The Nation. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  12. ^ Tyler Tynes (December 20, 2017). "Inside the Washington Redhawks internet hoax, and the latest fight to eliminate a racial slur". Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  13. ^ Katie Toth (December 19, 2017). "Rising Hearts Protesters on Why They 'Changed' the Washington NFL Team Name to the 'Redhawks'". Teen Vogue. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  14. ^ Thomas Boswell (December 14, 2017). "Changing a nickname seems like a seismic shift, but it's rarely a Mammoth deal". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 17, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  15. ^ "Ask Boswell: Redskins, Nationals and Washington sports". The Washington Post. December 18, 2017. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  16. ^ Demetrius Bell (December 15, 2017). "The Washington Redhawks Hoax Is Actually A Well-Executed Concept Design". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  17. ^ McDonald, Scott (July 1, 2020). "Washington Redskins Urged to Lose Name, or Millions in Sponsorships". Newsweek. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  18. ^ Clarke, Liz (July 2, 2020). "FedEx calls on Redskins to change name following investors' demands on sponsors". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
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