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Washington Football Team bans fans from wearing Native American garb and face paint at its home stadium this season
Fans of the team then-known as the Washington Redskins at a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, Sept. 10, 2017. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Washington Football Team bans fans from wearing Native American garb and face paint at its home stadium this season

The Washington Football Team — formerly known as the Washington Redskins until the franchise dropped the name a year ago amid racism outcries and rioting following the death of George Floyd — is banning fans from wearing Native American headdresses and face paint this season at its home stadium, FedEx Field, ESPN reported.

Incidentally, the newly named Cleveland Guardians (former the Indians) of Major League Baseball made the same move earlier this year.

What are the details?

The outlet said the Washington Football Team will hold a Friday practice at FedEx Field, and about 20,000 fans are expected to attend.

ESPN noted that it looks to be the biggest crowd at FedEx Field since the final home game in 2019 — which means it would represent the largest number of people there since the team dropped its former name in July 2020 and indicated "The Washington Football Team" would be its placeholder moniker.

But in March, team President Jason Wright said the organization and its fans have warmed to "The Washington Football Team" name — and that the club is considering making it the permanent name.

Wright also recently announced that Washington would not be choosing the name Warriors as its new moniker, ESPN said, adding that Native American leaders a year ago said "Warriors" would be too close to the team's former name and therefore unacceptable.

Anything else?

The Redskins name had been drawing an increasing degree of protest over the last several years, but amid last summer's rioting and social media mobs rallying to dismantle and cancel just about anything attached to the slightest hint of racism, cultural appropriation, colonialism, or white supremacy — even if the connection was centuries in the past — gave Washington greater motivation to fall in line.

The team made other off-season moves with the same politically correct flavor, such as dropping cheerleaders in favor of a coed dance squad in order to "be more inclusive."

Interestingly, back in 2016 — before the embrace of woke culture and cancel culture became everyday folks' tickets to not getting harassed around the clock — the Washington Post released a poll indicating that a vast majority of Native Americans didn't have a problem with Washington's then-mascot, the Redskins.

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