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Firing back on Trump’s attempt to change names of sports teams [1]
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Date: 2025-07-22
On Sunday morning, July 20, Donald Trump unleashed yet another racially charged tirade—this time demanding that the Washington Commanders revert back to the name “Redskins,” while also calling on the Cleveland Guardians to resume their former identity as the “Indians.”
He insisted Native people were asking for this: “Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!”
By afternoon, he’d doubled down, threatening to block a new stadium deal if the Commanders didn’t comply: “My statement… has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way… I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington unless they change the name back.”
And then, to top off this deeply offensive rhetoric, he introduced the slogan:
Make Indians Great Again (MIGA).
Let’s be clear: The term “Redskins” is a racial slur. It traces back to a time when bounties were placed on Native scalps during colonization—when our ancestors were hunted, and their bodies commodified. This is not heritage. It is genocide, rebranded for prime time.
And it’s not just Trump making noise. Our own HUD Secretary, Scott Turner, joined in with this on his X account: “I played in the NFL and was drafted by the Washington Redskins. Not the ‘Washington Football Team’ or the ‘Commanders.’ @POTUS is right. It’s time to bring the Redskins’ name back.”
It’s insulting. While tribal housing programs across the country are underfunded, overwhelmed, and trying to repair homes from the 1970s with inadequate federal resources, the top HUD official is weighing in on mascots, not Indian housing. Our people are battling housing shortages, overcrowding, unsafe infrastructure, and mold exposure—and this is where his attention goes?
Our housing is suffering, and HUD’s leadership is silent on that—but vocal on racial slurs.
In 2013, Trump tweeted: “President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name—our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them, not nonsense.”
But now, in his narcissistic tradition, he’s reframing public backlash as validation, claiming he’s doing Native people a favor, while ignoring what we’ve actually said.
What’s more disturbing is the hypocrisy we’re seeing from within our own tribal communities.
In 2022, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana—a sovereign tribal nation—issued a powerful condemnation of Native mascots used by Port Neches-Groves Independent School District. Chairman Marshall Pierite wrote:
“The continued use and perpetuation of Native American stereotypes and imagery through mascots and performances cause real harm to Indigenous people and communities… [They] reinforce deeply rooted stereotypes that have been used to marginalize and oppress Native American peoples for centuries.”
It was a bold, necessary statement. The kind Indian Country has fought for. So now I ask:
How does a Tribe that rightfully condemned mascots in 2022 now stand behind Donald Trump in 2025—while he promotes those same slurs and stereotypes on a national stage?
Just like Trump, there are always receipts.
You don’t get to say mascots are harmful one year and then turn around and nominate the man demanding their return for the Nobel Peace Prize the next. You don’t get to call out racism while standing beside it.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to those who champion the pursuit of peace, the prevention of war, and the advancement of international harmony. Trump is doing the opposite.
Not all tribal leadership is aligning with this dangerous rhetoric. Far from it.
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)—the oldest and largest organization representing American Indian and Alaska Native governments—responded swiftly and unequivocally:
“Any attempt to distract by invoking our names and purporting to speak for our communities is an affront to Tribal sovereignty… Imagery and fan behaviors that mock, demean, and dehumanize Native people have no place in modern society,” NCAI said.
This is not a new stance. Indian Country has been united on this issue for decades. Hundreds of tribes have passed resolutions, spoken out, and taken action to remove slurs and mascots from sports, schools, and pop culture.
And yet here we are, in 2025, with the President and HUD Secretary using the highest platforms in the country to legitimize hate—again.
This isn’t about sports. It’s about sovereignty. It’s about power. It’s about erasure.
So again, I ask those championing Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize nomination:
What kind of peace are you recognizing?
Because it’s not the kind that protects Indigenous rights. It’s not the kind that addresses housing disparities. And it certainly isn’t the kind that honors Native people’s dignity.
We are not your mascot.
We are not your distraction.
And we are not your political prop.
We are sovereign nations, living cultures, and leaders of our own destinies.
If peace is what you seek—then start by standing with us, not against us.
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