WASHINGTON 鈥� The 聽to entirely too much fanfare, and perhaps you鈥檝e heard the news by now. The league, in its infinite wisdom, decided to give the Washington Redskins a home game, in our nation鈥檚 capital, for the very first time…on Thanksgiving Day.
That鈥檚 right: Rather than simply continue the long-standing tradition of games in Dallas and Detroit, our decided it hadn鈥檛 in recent weeks. I shouldn鈥檛 have to break down the fundamental reason that this is a terrible idea, but let鈥檚 go ahead and do that anyway.
The name 鈥淩edskins鈥� is, at best, an outdated term for the Native American population. At worst, it鈥檚 a racial epithet, a constant reminder of the way history books have been framed to paint the native population as uncivilized, a continued denigration of one of America鈥檚 least-represented minorities, whose voice is drowned out in the ongoing Great Name Debate.
Thinking that now was the perfect time to have a team named the Redskins play in Washington (well, Landover) for the first time on national television — on the holiday meant to celebrate kinship with Native Americans — is a good idea is either the most distilled form of obliviousness or downright malice.
This comes, of course, on the heels of last year鈥檚 Turkey Day matchup between the Redskins and Cowboys in Dallas 鈥� just the second such game in the past 14 seasons聽鈥� which was already pushing the boundaries of good taste. At least we won鈥檛 get Cowboys vs. Indians in Washington this fall.
But just because we don鈥檛 have the added indignity of that matchup, doesn鈥檛 mean this isn鈥檛 already leaps and bounds more problematic than last year’s game. To not understand that it鈥檚 going to be way worse 鈥� with rowdy fans sticking feathers in their heads and wiping 鈥渨ar paint鈥� on their faces, chugging beers in the parking lot and screaming into cameras for B-roll shots to be used coming out of commercial breaks 鈥� is exactly what we鈥檝e come to expect from the insensitive NFL.
Hopefully, I don鈥檛 need to remind you that we鈥檙e only a year-and-a-half removed from this tweet, instant by its mere existence.
Wishing you and your family a Happy .
— Washington Redskins (@Redskins)
No matter where you stand on the name debate, I think we can all agree that this will be taken by those who vehemently oppose it as an incredibly disrespectful and needless affront. Whether or not you personally are offended, the move to play this game here on Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, mindless.
I can鈥檛 wait to see what the broadcast tandem who gets stuck calling this lemon decides to do: wrestle with the historical atrocities they鈥檙e whitewashing in an earnest attempt for context or ignore them altogether. I don鈥檛 envy their position either way. It鈥檚 not their fault they鈥檝e been thrown into this mess, but they鈥檒l likely shoulder at least some of the blame, depending on how they handle it.
Mind you, this is a debate that 鈥� at least as far as most football fans are concerned 鈥� the team and the NFL are winning. They鈥檝e followed the PR textbook the past year or so and let the yelling voices die, no longer pushing the (which mercifully hasn鈥檛 tweeted since December 2015) and just allowing time and space to do the work for them.
This move is taking a nearly dormant hornet鈥檚 nest and drop-kicking it, just because you can. I promise you the reaction from the groups opposed to the name will be strong, and that they will be in full force for the game itself, which will be the lone game broadcast nationally in its time slot.
If whoever is running @Redskins two years ago thought that Turkey Day was rough, I hope they鈥檙e at least getting holiday overtime for the backlash they鈥檙e going to deal with from this fall thanks to another asinine idea from the league.
