Over at Slate yesterday, editor David Plotz wrote about the site’s decision to never again refer to Washington’s professional football team as the Redskins. In explaining the change, Plotz argued that although the franchise’s (racist) first owner, George Preston Marshall, likely chose the name in an effort “to invoke Indian bravery and toughness, not to impugn Indians,” ultimately “the world changes, and all of a sudden a well-intentioned symbol is an embarrassment.”
It is an absolute embarrassment—for the NFL, for the nation’s capital, and for nanny-underpayer/owner Dan Snyder, who has stubbornly vowed never to change the team’s name, even in the face of common decency and a federal trademark suit.
And so, in an admittedly small gesture, Mother Jones is also tweaking our house style guide, joining Slate and a group of other publications, from The New Republic to Washington City Paper. From here on out, we will refer to the team online and in print as “Washington” or “Washington’s pro football team” or, if we get sassy, “the Washington [Redacted].”
For those of you who come to Mother Jones for your breaking NFL news…never mind, I can’t even.
There is a chance, however, that the term will end up back on our pages. We certainly won’t strike it from a quote. And if we end up writing a post or two about how Snyder still hasn’t changed the name, despite increasing scrutiny, we reserve the right to use it again—if only to highlight how incredibly out-of-touch and backward the Washington football team’s owner truly is.
Update (8/13/13): The Onion nails it, to no one’s surprise: “Report: Redskins’ Name Only Offensive If You Think About What It Means”
