By: Kevin Lee

President Trump recently criticized the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians on Monday for their racially insensitive names. The criticism comes in light of the racial injustice unfolding in America.

Mr. Trump tweeted about how the two teams, the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins named their teams: “They name their teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct.”

However, Trump has been stoking the fires of racial tensions and divisions. He has accused protesters pushing for racial justice of removing American history: the removal of Confederate statues around the country in the midst of the BLM protests. On Monday, he accused Nascar’s only full-time Black driver of spreading “a hoax” when noose was spotted in the team garage stall.

Trump has also mocked 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, who claimed to be of Native American heritage. He tweeted that Indigenois Peoples along with Elizabeth Warren, should be very angry with the Redskins and the Cleveland Indians in the same tweet criticizing the Redskins and Cleveland Indians.

On Friday, the Redskins announced that they would have a “thorough review” on the topic of their name, an insult to Native American groups for decades. The change in the team’s name was a response to FedEx, who paid $205 million for naming rights to the Redskins stadium, and who requested, along with other corporate partners, to change the team’s name.

Only a few hours later, the Major League Baseball Team the Cleveland Indians also gave a statement that announced that they too would change their name, stating, “We are committed to making a positive impact in our community and embrace our responsibility to advance social justice and equality.”

In 2013, Trump tweeted that the previous president, Barack Obama, shouldn’t be worrying about how the Washington Redskins should rename themselves but rather should focus on the bigger problems at hand because renaming the Redskins was “nonsense.”

Source: https://time.com/5863488/trump-redskins-indians-teams-name-change/