blocked the nomination<\/a> of the woman who wanted to be the first Native American federal district court judge in Montana. Daines said the Biden administration did not consult with his office about the nomination, a claim the White House disputes.<\/p>\nPainful symbolism?<\/h2>\n
Daines said in a prepared statement that he would hold up the stadium legislation until representatives of the Washington Commanders and the NFL show that they\u2019re working with the Wetzel family and leaders of the Blackfeet Nation to find a way to \u201chonor the history of the logo and heritage of our tribal nations and to rededicate the organization as an advocate for Indian Country.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many Indigenous peoples, the team\u2019s original name and logo represent an ugly history of racial discrimination and violence, as well as modern-day battles over ethical representation of Native Americans in popular culture. The National Congress of the American Indian, the organization that Walter Wetzel once led, has fought since 1968 to remove mascots like that one. Numerous psychological studies have shown the harmful impacts that Native American mascots have on children.<\/p>\n
A divided family<\/h2>\n
Founded in Boston in 1932, the football team had a Native American man as its mascot, but after moving to Washington D.C. in 1937, the logo was changed to a spear, later an \u201cR\u201d adorned with two feathers.<\/p>\n
Walter Wetzel had been working for the Department of Labor to address housing and employment disparities in Indian Country and worked closely with President John F. Kennedy, and was friends with him and Robert Kennedy. Wetzel worked with the football team to redesign its logo. He felt that, if the team was going to have a Native American-themed mascot, it should at least be a representative image, said his grandson Ryan Wetzel.<\/p>\n
Walter Wetzel suggested a profile of a former Blackfeet chief, John Two Guns White Calf. A likeness of that image would be used from the 1972 season until it was retired in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand the controversy of the name, I get it,\u201d Ryan Wetzel said. \u201cI come from a family that is divided with the name. But the logo, how can we still keep that and use that moving forward?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Wetzel said that in his final years his father Don had an amputated leg but still showed up regularly on Capitol Hill to find support for preserving the logo, and Daines took ahold of that cause. Daines reached out to Ryan Wetzel after his father died last year to see if he could help revive the effort to restore the logo in some way.<\/p>\n
A \u201cdog-whistle\u201d?<\/h2>\n
A spokesperson for Daines said talks with the Washington Commanders on a way to honor the Wetzel family are ongoing and productive. In his statements during a May committee hearing on the RFK stadium bill, Daines suggested that the logo could be revitalized to sell merchandise, and a portion of the profits could go toward issues like the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.<\/p>\n
But Native American advocates and researchers say use of the old logo is an inappropriate and harmful path to achieving justice and equity for Indigenous peoples. No matter how the image was chosen, it cannot be separated from the racial slur it once promoted, said Crystal Echo Hawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation and the founder and CEO of IllumiNative, a nonprofit that works to increase the visibility of Native Americans. She called the former logo a \u201cdog-whistle\u201d to the team\u2019s former name.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe science underscores the detrimental impact these images have on Indigenous peoples,\u201d said Dr. Stephanie Fryberg, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and one of the country\u2019s leading experts on the topic.<\/p>\n
Fryberg, who is a member of the Tulalip Tribe in Washington State, said the use of these mascots leads to heightened rates of depression, self-harm, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation, particularly among children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe continued use of these racist images prevents Native Americans from existing and being honored within contemporary social contexts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
What did the Blackfeet Nation get?<\/h2>\n
In Montana, some Blackfeet Nation council members wonder why so little of the millions of dollars the football team generated off the image of White Calf and designed by a former Blackfeet Nation chairman never made it back to the Blackfeet people.<\/p>\n
Decades ago, the football team donated a couple of vans to help transport Blackfeet elders to a nearby VA facility, said Blackfeet Nation Councilman Everett Armstrong, but he was unaware of any other resources or revenues that had been shared with the tribe. A spokesperson for the Washington Commanders was unable to provide any other examples but said the team is in talks with the Wetzel family.<\/p>\n
There are strong feelings about the logo and its legacy on the reservation, said Armstrong. But one group feels left out of the discussion entirely: the descendants of White Calf.<\/p>\n
They were not consulted in the 1970\u2019s about the use of his image and have never been asked about it since, said Armstrong, a descendant of White Calf himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d like a seat at the table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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