ONEIDA RESERVATION (NBC 26) -- The Oneida Nation is applauding the Washington football team for changing its name.
Monday, the Washington Redskins made the official announcement it would retire its current name and logo. This comes less than 2 weeks after the team said they would do a "thorough review" of them.
The "Redskins" name has been criticized as offensive to Native Americans. In a statement Monday, the Oneida Nation called the Washington team's name and mascot "racist" and applauded its retiring.
"The time has finally come after 50 years of fighting the racist naming of teams and mascots. One of the toughest battles has been won, the Washington Team has retired a racist name and mascot," the Oneida Nation said.
Now we call on every youth, high school, college, and professional sports team to #ChangeTheMascot pic.twitter.com/ekKjKxFd16
— Oneida Nation (@OneidaNationWI) July 13, 2020
Last year, when the Washington Redskins played the Green Bay Packers, the Oneida Nation launched a commercial campaign to show the pride of the Oneida Nation with a video, "I am Oneida". The video played on the jumbotron during the Packers vs Redskins game at Lambeau. At the same time, protesters gathered outside Lambeau during the game over the Washington Redskins name, though that protest was not officially hosted by the Oneida Nation.
Oneida Nation chair Tehassi Hill has “never seen it done right,” a professional sports team truly honor any Native American history they pull culture from, so it should be off the table to even attempt. Recommends the Washington football team look to animals for future logo, name pic.twitter.com/y34nmXin6S
— Rachel Hopmayer (@rachelhopmayer) July 13, 2020
The Washington team is working on a new name and logo that will "enhance the standing of our proud, tradition rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years."
Anticipating the change, retailers like Walmart, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods and Amazon pulled products with the old logo and team name last week from their stores.
Sam Cohen contributed to this story.
