Matt Pearson was born in Washington, DC in 1983, which means he’s old enough to remember watching his hometown soccer team win his second Super Bowl in 1988. He remembers the smell of crisps and beer, his parents screaming like crazy on TV. , the team’s return and record victory.
After that, said Mr. Pearson, who is now an industrial designer, “my level of passion for football was complete and devotional.”
By the time he could turn on the television, “nothing would take me away from Sunday with the Washington football team,” he said. “At that time, I called them the Redskins. I was obsessed. “
When first confronted with the idea that the team’s name was racist, when he was in college, Mr. Pearson, who is black, said: “My brain couldn’t not bear it. ” But as he grew older and his politics began to develop, he turned against the name and the league, both of which he found increasingly unacceptable. He no longer watches professional football.
Yet his house, like the homes of many people who grew up in Washington at the time – including that of my own family; we’re friendly with the Pearsons – was once littered with jerseys and souvenirs, including limited edition Super Bowl victory coca cans that sported the team logo. In my own childhood home, there is always a Monopoly game by Redskins in the collector’s edition, made in 2005.
The team chose to change their name this week, a decision that had been requested for decades by Native American activists and groups, but forced by major sponsors such as Nike and FedEx. The change will transform the jerseys and memorabilia of an active team’s merchandise into artifacts of its former racist name.
Since the death of George Floyd in police custody in late May sparked anti-racism protests across the country, brands such as Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben have reconsidered the racist images they use to sell products. But while these images are affixed to disposable food, the Redskins name and logo appear on countless merchandise that fans have no intention of getting rid of. Some of them are old objects that we hadn’t thought about much. Others are memories and memories important to their owners.
The millions of people in DC, Maryland and Virginia who have supported or supported the home team, with enthusiasm or reluctantly, will have to decide: what will happen to all of their Redskins gear?
“It was our team”
Among those who encourage people to reassess their personal belongings relationships are former Redskins players. Darrell Green, a Washington legend and Professional Football Hall of Fame member who holds the league record for most consecutive seasons with an interception, told ESPN this week that he would consider throwing away his old jerseys and memories.
He explained in an interview with the New York Times, saying that the time had come to look towards a better future instead of clinging to nostalgia.
“We should not want something from the past, that is, a swimsuit or a moment, to the detriment of living people,” he said, referring to Native American communities. “My millions, my trophies, my videos, my jerseys, my business, it’s not worth it. My view is that human beings come first. “
Some fans rush to get rid of their equipment. Patrick Casady, 25, lives in Maryville, Missouri, but chose to join the Washington NFL team when he was young because he loved their colors and connected with players of that era .
I contacted him via eBay, where he was selling a Robert Griffin III quarterback jersey, which was for a while the brightest brightest hope in the DC metropolitan area.
“I always knew when I was growing up that the name was racist. Nobody has ever done anything for a long time, it was just a little bit there, “said Mr. Casady.
Eventually, he stopped wearing his many jerseys outside the house. “You honestly feel a little uncomfortable,” he said. “You know, personally, I would never say it to a person of Indian origin or anything. So that shows you that it’s not good, it’s racist. “
But many fans of the team say they will continue to proudly display the team’s logo and name. In a thread on the team’s official bulletin board asking if participants would continue to wear their old equipment, more than 40 respondents said they would, about twice as many as those who said they would not .
“Yes, I will absolutely wear my Redskin equipment!” Never considered racist! And still not! “said one of them, who identified himself as an electrician rooted in the team since 1968.
Jeff Rinehart Jr., 40, of Virginia Beach, said he inherited the love for the team from his father, who died in 1998. He is a member of a charitable foundation associated with the team, Les HogFarmers, which supports children with cancer. and their families.
Mr. Rhinehart started attending the games in 2001 and said it made him feel closer to his father. He does not plan to stop wearing his team equipment, he said.
Jesenia Clepper, 41, will not only continue to display the team’s logo and name, but will also make and sell her own shirts with prominent displays. When we spoke, she said she was wearing a T-shirt with the team logo on an American flag, as well as a branded wristwatch.
She said she grew up extremely poor in Houston and that she and her nine siblings, including her brother Roosevelt, did what they could to have fun without spending any money.
“We played football and we were the Redskins and the Cowboys,” she said. “It was in 1983. We just adopted the Redskins in our lives and it was our team. (The team won its first Super Bowl in 1983).
Then in 1989 Roosevelt had an aneurysm, which permanently changed his behavior and cognitive abilities, said Clepper, choking on telling the story. For her, the team recalls a happier moment. She doesn’t see her name as racist. (Mrs. Clepper is Hispanic.)
“I can’t even get into my head that people actually think that we, as fans, wear a Redskins outfit as a form of hatred or to denigrate Native Americans,” she said, contrasting the symbol with the Confederate flag, which she said was a racist symbol.
The decision to change the name broke her heart, and she has now “finished with the NFL,” she said. “No more football for me.”
Shame and preservation
Countless branded pieces are produced each year on behalf of professional football teams. A person familiar with NFL license operations who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the league, has estimated that in the past 20 years or so, approximately $ 700 million. Washington NFL equipment had been sold nationwide.
Some of the merchandise associated with the team now belongs to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memories in Big Rapids, Michigan. over the years, including a dozen articles devoted to the Washington team.
Pilgrim said the name change would give fans the opportunity to question what was in their closets.
“A fan’s attachment to a jersey cannot be the determining factor here,” said Pilgrim. “I’m not going to tell people what to do with them, but if they visit our museum, one of the questions I ask is, ‘Why do you keep them? »»
Museums do not have the capacity – or necessarily the urge – to store endless quantities of Washington-branded goods. Hunter Old Elk, curator at the Indians Plains Museum in Cody, Wyo., And an Aboriginal woman from the Crow and Yakama nations, said what to do with old equipment was a complicated matter.
“I think there are a few examples that could be used in interpretation,” she said. But the vast majority, “since they are still mass produced, there is not much value historically in them.”
She said it would be up to the fans to decide whether to safeguard or dispose of their property, which she called “images of continuous systemic racism”. She had little hope of throwing them away. She expected them to become similar to the symbols of Confederation, proud taboos for those who continue to keep them.
Lyra Monteiro, a professor at Rutgers University who studies how cultural artefacts can help us understand American history, also saw this as a possible outcome. She said that when people are forced to admit that something is offensive to others, especially when it is emotionally important, “what manifests primarily in response to that is anger and defensiveness.”
She said it was obvious that people would have a hard time letting go of the equipment, especially considering what it meant for their childhood. Emotional ties help a culture to continue.
But Ms Monteiro, an archaeologist by training, said that the tendency to erase all evidence from objects that had been recognized as racist or offensive only contributed to increased ignorance.
She cited the story of the blackface, which she said could be difficult for her students to understand, as they met her so rarely before it appeared in recent political scandals.
She hoped that for some fans, the confrontation forced by the name change “can be the deepest and deepest learning opportunity.”
“You know the power of this cultural product, because of what it means to you,” she said. “Maybe that’s what makes you dig deeper.”
Pearson said he thinks many of his old jerseys have been donated. But he said he could see an advantage in keeping one or two pieces of clothing, even if it looked like “a relic from another era.”
His goal: “To remind me of my own fervor,” he said. “Just to remind me how much your opinions can change.”
