Washington Football Team Changes Name

The Redskins are finally getting a new name and a lot of the suggestions are honestly great

Tod Perry 07.13.20

Juanita Helphrey

I am so sorry that the great Rev. Juanita Helphrey passed before she got to see what she had worked so hard for during her life. Juanita Helphrey, 76, died Friday, January 5, 2018, in a Minot rehab facility. Juanita’s professional life was a pilgrimage of service and seeking justice on behalf of North Dakota’s Native Americans, as well as others across the US and world who struggle to claim their rightful place in a society that would ignore them. Juanita’s social ministry journey began in 1970 with the Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM) soon after it organized, serving on its board and staff. In 1975, she became the Executive Director of the Indian Affairs Commission of North Dakota, where she worked for justice for the reservations of North Dakota in their dealings with the wider culture, as well as with one another. In 1991, Juanita continued her pilgrimage of service by joining the staff of the national United Church of Christ headquarters in Cleveland, OH where she remained until late 2004. While leading a department in the national church, Juanita worked with many seeking social and racial justice. She carried out this ministry by helping to develop the first UCC resource that focused on becoming an anti-racist congregation, and, became a leader in a church-supported movement against the use of Native Americans as mascots and logos. She was also an active protester and in 1997 was arrested with AIM activist Vernon Belcourt for burning a Chief Wahoo image during the World Series. She also protested with Russell Means, another AIM activist. Read her obituary HERE.

PLTC

The move comes after years of public outcry over a name that team owner Dan Snyder had stubbornly said he will not change. “We’ll never change the name,” he told USA Today in 2013. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.” But money talks in the NFL. And after the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests for social justice around the country, several of the team’s corporate partners threatened to cut business ties with the franchise. FedEx paid $205 million for naming rights to the team’s stadium in 1999 and “communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name.”

Read the entire article HERE. Read more HERE.

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