The Washington NFL franchise announced on Monday, July 13th, that it would be changing its team name. However, influenced by greed, one man has already beaten them to the punch by trademarking roughly 40-60 unique potential names that the team could have used. This comes as no surprise – white males have been oppressing Native Americans since the “discovery” of North America.
(Thank you for the genocide of the indigenous and the small pox blankets.)
United States law requires that the holder of a trademark actually use the term in question.
McCaulay is aware of the provision, which is why he’s spent thousands of dollars creating team merchandise to back up his claims.
In doing so, he said he’s no ordinary trademark squatter, a term with negative connotation used in similar situations.
“A squatter reserves a name with no intention to use it,” McCauley said. “I went to the extreme of buying a lot of merchandise, making it my brand, and selling it.”
The Official (Interim) Name Change
After decades of racial exploitation, the “Washington Redskins” have finally decided to officially change their name. Seemingly only after their sponsors stepped up pressure, as opposed to any sense of social justice, that they scrapped the long criticized moniker.
“In light of recent events around our country and feedback from our community, the Washington Redskins are announcing the team will undergo a thorough review of the team’s name,” the team said in a statement just 24 hours after stadium sponsor FedEx demanded a name change.
“This review formalizes the initial discussions the team has been having with the league in recent weeks.”
Redskins owner Dan Snyder had long been resistant to changing the team’s name — a term for Native Americans that is seen as a slur.
“We’ll never change the name,” Snyder said in 2018. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”
(Absolutely disgusting, sir. I am glad that the team has decided otherwise.)
However, nationwide protests over racial injustice — sparked by the death of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of police on May 25 — have brought the Redskins tag under renewed scrutiny.
Early July, US delivery giant FedEx Corp — which paid $205 million to the Redskins in 1998 for the naming rights to the team’s suburban stadium — confirmed it had sought a change.
As of the end of July, they have retired the racist name and are now using the interim name “Washington Football Team”.
