Indians, other teams pressured after Redskins drop nickname

CLEVELAND (AP) — The spotlight for change is shining on the Cleveland Indians.

Now that the NFL's Washington Redskins have retired their contentious nickname and logo after decades of objection and amid a nationwide movement calling for racial justice, the Indians appear to be the next major sports franchise that might assume a new identity.

Along with the Indians, who recently announced they are in the early stages of evaluating a name change for the first time in 105 years, the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Blackhawks and Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are among those facing backlash along with the potential of sponsors pulling their financial support.

For some, the time has come for widespread changes to sports nicknames, mascots and symbols as the country reckons with its legacy of racism.

“I understand people aren’t willing to change or so quickly, or they’re hoping this moment is going to pass. It’s not,” said activist Frances Danger, who is Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole from Oklahoma. ”And now that we’ve gotten what we needed on the Redskins side, we’re going to start working on the rest of them. We’re not going to let up.”

On Monday, Washington announced it was dropping a nickname that had been in place since 1933 and had grown into an embarrassing scar for the NFL franchise. The team buckled under financial pressure from sponsors including FedEx, the shipping giant and naming rights holder to the teams's stadium, as well as other groups.

While the debate over the Redskins' nickname waged for years, the drastic change came just two weeks after owner Dan Snyder, who once said he would never change the team's moniker, said the franchise would undergo a “thorough review” before its next move.

Cleveland's situation is different from...

source https://www.chron.com/news/article/Indians-other-teams-pressured-after-Redskins-15405529.php