Headdresses, Face Paint Banned From WFT Games

The Washington Football Team is taking more steps to distance itself from the nickname it had for 87 years.

The Football Team, a temporary name after the organization retired its “Redskins” name and logo last summer, announced Tuesday that the organization has banned fans from wearing Native American headdresses and face paint at FedExField in Maryland.

The announcement was included in the “Approved Fan Attire” section of the organization’s stadium policies heading into Friday’s open practice, which ESPN reported is expected to bring 20,000 fans to FedExField. The release also said that face coverings are recommended for non-vaccinated guests and optional for vaccinated guests.

The franchise, which moved from Boston to Washington, D.C., in 1937, was known as the Redskins from 1933 until last year. On July 13, 2020, the organization released a statement “announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo.”

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The team announced last summer it would go by the Washington Football Team until a permanent new name is adopted.

There had been increasing pressure to change the team name and distance the organization from Native American imagery. Last summer, dozens of investment firms and shareholders asked Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to terminate their business relationships with the team due to the controversial name — a racist slur stemming from bounties paid to white settlers in exchange for the skins of Native American adults and children as proof of their murders. FedEx said last summer that it would remove its signage from FedExField unless the name was changed.

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