Oneida Nation Reservation sign. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Oneida tribal leaders are speaking out after President Donald Trump said the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians should return to their previous team names. The president even threatened to halt a stadium deal that would bring the Commanders back to the nation’s capital and the former RFK Stadium site if they didn’t revert.
For years, the Oneida Nation has campaigned against the use of Native American names and their imagery in sports. Ahead of a Washington game in Green Bay in 2016, it produced a commercial to address Washington’s use of a derogatory name and mascot.
“That kind of harkens back to the early days of the colonists and having race wars, essentially, and paying money for scalps that had red skin, still attached to the hair and they would get bounties for that and that’s kind of the base as to why that’s such a negative term for Native Americans,’ said Oneida chairman Tehassi Hill.
As President Donald Trump recognized his first six months in office of his second term, he took to Truth Social, calling for the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians to immediately change back to their former names.
The president posting:
The Washington “Whatever’s” should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. 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!!!
Tehassi Hill, chairman of the Oneida Nation, says that’s not the case at all.
“These are all just difficult things to deal with as we’ve been trying to do away with them for a long time and really trying to get responsible names involved with our sporting, athletic teams no matter where they are, said Hill. “It’s just, I thought we were making progress over the last five, ten years and then to have the president swing a 180 and try to bring things back to where we struggled so hard to come from.”
Trump doubled down, threating to put a stop to a stadium deal on land in Washington D.C. if the names aren’t changed.
He wrote:
My statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way. 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. Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians. The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, 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)!
Chairman Hill says Native Americans won’t stand for it, adding, “I think it’s just important to continue to push back on some of the things the president says and some his ideals. Obviously not everyone agrees with what everyone says but I think it’s important we stand on what we believe in and push back against the president when he makes comments like this.”
It’s unclear how the president could stop the stadium deal. A bill was signed in January, giving control of the land to the District of Columbia from the federal government. It was signed by President Joe Biden
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