Over the past several years sporting teams from high school through professional whose nicknames and mascots reflect Native American symbols have seen a great deal of pressure to change their names.
After a great deal of pressure the NFL Washington Redskins and the MLB Cleveland Indians relented and changed their names. After two years of being known simply as the Washington Football Team, the name Commanders was selected. In Cleveland, they chose the Guardians.
But, the current White House administration is balking at the name changes and has filed a lawsuit in the state of New York to allow high schools to keep their Native Americans names.
This weekend, the threat was issued that restrictions would be issued on the new Washington football stadium if the team did not immediately change their name back to Redskins!
Additionally, the demand was made for the Guardians to revert their name back to the Indians.
After calling them the “Washington ‘Whatever’s’” the demand was made in the form of a post on Truth Social saying, “I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington. The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone.”
In 1997, the Washington team moved from their Washington DC home to a new stadium in Landover, Maryland. In April, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Commanders announced a deal that would bring the team back to Washington with a new stadium at the site of the old RFK Stadium. Currently that proposal is stalled in the DC Council but Mayor Bowser is urging the Council to move on the deal; saying, “the Commanders are anxious about it.”
In 2024, Congress passed a bit transferring ownership from the federal government to Washington DC district government.
As for the Cleveland Guardians, they are being urged to go back to the Cleveland Indians saying, “that the ‘Indian people’ want the Guardians to be the ‘Indians’ again.”
Further posts proclaimed, “our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!”
A later post proclaimed, “Matt Dolan, a former Ohio state lawmaker whose family owns the Guardians, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn’t understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election.”
“Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!”
Matt Dolan no longer has any affiliation with the Guardians
When Josh Harris bought the Washington Commanders from Dan Snyder he promised that the name would not be changed; the team would remain the Commanders.
Cleveland Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti also noted that there are no plans to change the team’s name saying, “we understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously it’s a decision we made. We’ve got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that’s in front of us.”