The family of the man depicted in the former Washington Redskins logo has reignited the debate over the team’s politically correct ‘Commanders’ rebranding.
‘The fans want him back and we want him back,’ Thomas White Calf, a great nephew of late Blackfeet Nation chief John Two Guns White Calf, told Fox News after meeting with Senator Steve Daines (Republican, Montana).
Thomas’ pleas come four years after the team began its rebranding, first becoming the Washington Football Team on a temporary basis before adopting ‘Commanders’ and dropping the feathered John Two Guns White Calf emblem.
‘Our ancestor was the most famous and most photographed native in history,’ Thomas told Fox alongside his mother, Delphine White Calf, a niece of the late Blackfeet chief. ‘Two Guns was also the face on the Indian head nickel. I’m proud of him. The Blackfeet are proud of him.’
The club began as the Boston Braves in 1932 before changing its name to ‘Redskins’ a year later and moving to the US Capital in 1937. But it wasn’t until 1971 that Blackfeet leader Blackie Wetzel created a portrait of John Two Guns White Calf that ultimately became the team’s logo.
Native America Blackfeet Chief John Two Guns White Calf (1872-1934) shaking hands with A Aaron of Madras, India, as they met at the Twin Cities for the Rotary Convention, circa 1925
Many fans fought to keep the name, but the team ultimately relented in 2020
A general view of the Washington Commanders Inspire Change logo on a goalpost
Two Guns White Calf, ca. 1920s. Artist Benjamin H. Frayser
The rebranding process began in 2020, when the team succumbed to years-long pressure by dropping ‘Redskins,’ which is considered offensive to Native Americans. In 2021, the team played as the Washington Football Team.
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The term’s origin is disputed, according to a 2016 Washington Post article that claims it was first used as a pejorative as early as 1863 in Minnesota.
‘The State reward for dead Indians has been increased to $200 for every red-skin sent to Purgatory,’ read an announcement in The Winona Daily Republican. ‘This sum is more than the dead bodies of all the Indians east of the Red River are worth.’
By 1898, Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary began defining ‘redskin’ with the phrase ‘often contemptuous.’
A 2016 Washington Post poll found that 90 percent of the 504 Native American respondents were ‘not bothered’ by the team’s name. Now-former team owner Daniel Snyder ultimately wrote an open letter, defending his decision to keep the moniker by citing the study.
However, that survey and other similar studies have been slammed by journalists and social scientists as being unreliable.
‘The reporters and editors behind this story must have known that it would be used as justification for the continued use of these harmful, racist mascots,’ read a statement from the Native American Journalists Association. ‘They were either willfully malicious or dangerously naïve in the process and reporting used in this story, and neither is acceptable from any journalistic institution.’
A Washington Redskins fan looks on prior to the game against the Miami Dolphins in 2019
Leah Muskin-Pierret of Washington DC works on signs as part of a Native Americans protest against the Redskins team name in 2017
A Houston Texans fan argues with a Washington Redskins fan on September 7, 2014
Redskins fan Louis Hilliard, center, has a conversation with Native American protester Jay Winter Nightwolf, left, and Peter Landeros in December of 2017
In March of 2020, UC Berkeley revealed a study that found that more than half of its 1,000 Native American respondents were offended by the team name.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that a trademark law barring disparaging terms infringes on free speech rights. Prior to that, the United States Patent and Trademark office had tried to revoke the Redskins’ trademark because it was a racial epithet.
Before the 2021 season, the team banned fans from wearing headdresses to home games.
Another lawsuit is the last thing the Commanders need after being sued twice by Washington DC Attorney General Karl A. Racine on accusations of sexual harassment and an alleged scheme to defraud ticket holders out of security deposits.
Thomas, who lives in the Blackfeet reservation in Montana, says he was not consulted when the team removed his relative from its logo.
The team has since issued a statement to Fox News.
‘We are collaborating with Sen. Daines to honor the legacy of our team’s heritage and the Native American community,’ a Commanders spokesperson said.
‘At the senator’s suggestion, we have developed a positive relationship with Ryan Wetzel, the grandson of Walter ‘Blackie’ Wetzel, who designed the logo. We look forward to honoring that legacy.’
