The New York Daily News announced on Thursday that it will no longer be using the Washington Redskins team logo or nickname in its print and online publications.
“Enormously popular and deeply ingrained in sporting culture, the Redskins name is a throwback to a vanished era of perniciously casual racial attitudes,” the Daily News said in a lengthy essay explaining the decision. “No new franchise would consider adopting a name based on pigmentation — Whiteskins, Blackskins, Yellowskins or Redskins — today. The time has come to leave the word behind.”
As you can see from Thursday’s NFL preview, which is shown above, the Daily News has replaced the Redskins’ traditional Native American logo with a generic burgundy and gold icon. They also referred to the Redskins as “Washington” but used every other team’s nickname. Here’s a closer look at the logo the Daily News will use from now on:
And here's the logo we'll use from now on for the Washington @nfl team. http://t.co/uk86bg6jlD pic.twitter.com/eC89LoaChv
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) September 3, 2014
Simply put, it is a matter of when — not if — Redskins owner Daniel Snyder will be forced to change his team’s name. There will always be people like Sarah Palin and Mike Ditka who think the Redskins name debate is stupid, but we have also seen an increasing amount of broadcasters who refuse to use Washington’s nickname. Then there’s the fact that the US Patent Office has cancelled the Redskins’ trademark. It’ll only get worse for Snyder from here.
Photo via Pat Kiernan
