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It seems like Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins might begin feeling pressure to finally change the team’s name.
According to Adweek’s Emily O’Hara, 87 investment firms that are responsible for more than $620 billion in assets wrote three separate letters asking Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to end their business relationships with the NFL’s Washington Redskins until the team decides to drop their “racist name.
The investor letter to @PepsiCo, for example, cites the company’s “decision to sunset the Aunt Jemima brand is an important and meaningful step,” and calls on it to continue that commitment to divesting from racist mascots by ending its relationship with the Redskins.
— Mary Emily O'Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) July 1, 2020
The investor letter to @Nike applauds the brand's stated commitment to anti-racism and its work with @Kaepernick7, but asks that the brand extend its values to the Native American community as well by dropping the Redskins.
— Mary Emily O'Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) July 1, 2020
For context, some of the investment firms and groups behind these letters were also involved in #DAPL divestment—which caused banks to lose an estimated $7.5 billion as cities, etc, pulled accounts and terminated relationships. Now that could happen to @Redskins and the @NFL.
— Mary Emily O'Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) July 1, 2020
In one of the letters, the investors specifically condemn Nike for selling millions of dollars worth of Redskins apparel to fans that feature “the team’s racist name and logo.”
We are writing to you today to urge Nike to terminate your business and public relationships with theNational Football League’s (NFL) Washington D.C.franchise, if it does not stop using the name “Redskins.” Many of us have raised this issue with Nike for years to little avail. But in light of the Black Lives Matter movement that has focused the world’s attention on centuries of systemic racism, we are witnessing a fresh outpouring of opposition to the team name. Therefore, it is time for Nike to meet the magnitude of this moment, to make their opposition to the racist team name clear, and to take tangible and meaningful steps to exert pressure on the team to cease using it.
Nike continues to provide uniforms and equipment to the Washington D.C. NFL football team which bears the logo and name. Further, it produces and sells thousands of jerseys and other apparel with the team’s racist name and logo. This association with and facilitation of the racism inherent in the name and logo runs contrary to the very sentiments expressed by the company.Therefore, the undersigned 87 investors representing over $620 billion in assets, ask you to move beyond the words on paper and to live up to the principles Nike asserts by applying them to your apparel relationship with the Washington D.C. NFL football franchise– terminate your business and public relationships with the franchise, if it does not stop using the name “Redskins.”
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The investors’ letters comes a week after the Redskins announced they were removing the name of former George Preston Marshall from team material. Marshall fought racial integration in the NFL and gave the team its now infamous name.
Redskins to remove George Preston Marshall’s name from all team material https://t.co/cAQHvFt6yx
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 24, 2020
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