File – Washington Commanders Jerseys are displayed during an event to the new identity of the NFL football team, 2 February 2022, in Landover, MD. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, file) to reveal)
WASHINGTON – A day after Donald Trump threatened to hold a deal for a new football stadium in the capital of the country if the Washington commanders did not return to the name Redskins, said secretary Karoline Leavitt of the White House, the president’s comments were not a joke.
“The president was serious,” Leavitt said reporters on Monday while answering questions in the driveway of the White House. “Sport is one of the many passions of this president and he wants to see the name of that team change.”
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Asked why he gets involved, Leavitt Trump called a “non -traditional president” and said that sport fans are behind him.
“I think you have seen the president who get involved in many things that most presidents don’t have,” Leavitt said. “He is a non -traditional president. He likes to see results on behalf of the American people and, if you actually fight this issue with sports fans throughout the country, and even in this city, people support the position of the president and the name change on this.”
After former President Joe Biden had signed a bill at the end of last year to transfer the country of the federal government to the District of Columbia, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the team reached an agreement in April to build on the site of the old RFK stadium. That is still awaiting approval by the Council of the District of Columbia.
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“I think the thing we have to concentrate in DC contributes to our bit,” said Bowser. “I worked for most of the 10 years to complete our share, including getting control over the country, coming into account an agreement with the team and promoting a fantastic agreement for the council, so we have to do our bit.”
Dan Snyder, who had said several times as the owner since 1999 that he would never change the name, did this in July 2020 after being confronted with the increasing pressure of sponsors and critics. Washington football team was used for two seasons before commanders were unveiled as the permanent name at the beginning of 2022.
Josh Harris, whose group bought the Snyder team in 2023, said earlier this year that the name of the commanders was here to stay.
Savannah Romero, co-founder and deputy director of the Black Liberation-Intigenous Sovereigtty Collective, said in a statement on Monday that responded to Trump that “Indians are not mascots.”
“Equales native people with cartoon -like mascots next to animals is a gross and continuous tactic of dehumanization,” said Romero, a registered member of the eastern Shoshone Nation.
Since 1950, the National Congress of American Indians has supposed to be mascots with a native theme one of its priorities. President Mark Macarro called an attempt to claim to speak for indigenous communities ‘an insult to tribal sovereignty’.
“Images and fanging behavior that mock, humiliating and dehumanes are native people have no place in modern society,” Macarro said in a statement. “Ncai will remain standing to support the dignity and humanity of indigenous peoples.”
At least one organization, the Native American Guardians Association, has submitted petitions to reduce the names of Redskins and Cleveland Indians.
A handful of fans who were asked for their opinion by the Associated Press generally rejected Trump’s comments. Ender Tuncay, who grew up in the Washington area and returns to visit family, called it “typical Trump -Domheid.”
“He is only that he focuses on things that are not consistent and try to distract from the actual issues that are going on,” Tuncay said, adding that he doesn’t care what the name is. “But I would like them to get the new stadium, certainly. I like this site where it is. My parents always told me about how great RFK was back when we were really, really good.”
Ford Flemmings, who worked as a seller in the old RFK stadium, said that everyone is on the bandwagon with the name commanders now wins the team.
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“I liked Washington when it was just Washington,” said Flemmings. “If they change their name, it is so. I will still be a Washington (fan), whatever the Washington team is.”
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