The Washington Redskins are no more and have instead become the Commanders — a welcome change for Stan Walker, a lifelong fan.
Mr Walker, 70, gleefully dons the familiar burgundy and gold of his beloved American football team. His newly purchased T-shirt features a slanted W, which has replaced the famous profile portrait of a Native American warrior.
“I mean, the Pentagon's here, all the headquarters and of course the commander-in-chief is in the White House. I think it's great,” he said of the new name.
The name change better reflects the city that has hosted the franchise for nearly a century, said Mr Walker.
However it took years of protests, petitions and ultimately the threat of lost sponsorships from some of the world's biggest companies to convince team owner Dan Snyder to change the name.
Mr Snyder had vowed to never change it, but in July 2020, a few months after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and during a period of intense social and racial unrest, he accepted a name change was necessary.
Washington is not the first sports team to use racist words and imagery in its name and logo.
Indigenous imagery has long been misappropriated by mainstream culture. Data from Mascot DB show that about 2,000 high schools in the US use Native American names or imagery for their sports teams.
And even though the Redskins are no more, there are several other professional sports teams with Native American references in their names and logos: the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves and the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks have all refused to change their names.
The use of Native American names for predominantly white institutions has had a deep and lasting impact on native communities.
“It causes immense psychological harm for native people,” said Arianne Eason, assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley's department of psychology.
“In fact, what we know is that native-themed mascots and game-day rituals really undermine indigenous people's well-being.”
Many fans who support teams that use Native American imagery believe they are actually honouring indigenous peoples, which Ms Eason says is problematic.
“We really don't, as a society, have great awareness of contemporary native peoples and their experiences,” she told The National.
“This really drives some of the perpetuation of discrimination against the group, people holding on to the use of native mascots.”
This is not the first time fans have had to wrestle with the team's troubling legacy.
The man who moved the team from Boston to Washington and renamed them the Redskins in 1933, George Preston Marshall, was an avowed segregationist and the last NFL team owner to allow non-white players on his team.
The franchise has attempted to erase the stain by dropping Marshall's name from its Ring of Fame and renaming part of its stadium for the team’s first black player.
It has been a long road of self-reflection and understanding for many of the Washington team's diehard fans.
Tim Payne grew up in Virginia in the late 1980s at a time when the team was at the top of the league. From 1982 to 1991, they won three Super Bowl Championships and were a fixture in the playoffs.
“I think for a lot of people, those years as a kid kind of forms where your fandom lies,” said Mr Payne, who now lives in Texas but blogs frequently about the team.
“And so for me, a lifelong obsession was born and I haven't been able to shake it.”
It’s been a trying few years, with middling results in the league coupled with turmoil over the name change, and Mr Payne admits he was reluctant to accept the loss of such an important feature of his childhood.
“It was just the name of my favourite football team and I knew it was Redskins because it was an Indian logo but I didn't have in my lexicon the idea that it was a pejorative term or anything like that,” he said.
Eventually, he accepted that the name had to go after he understood the effect it has had on Native American communities.
“I still have fond memories of things connected to that name, but I totally understand why they had to make the shift,” he told The National.
He hopes the Commanders can find success so that the next generation of Washington football fans will associate the team only with winning.
The biog
Place of birth: Kalba
Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren
Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken
Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah
Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
More on animal trafficking
IPL 2018 FINAL
Sunrisers Hyderabad 178-6 (20 ovs)
Chennai Super Kings 181-2 (18.3 ovs)
Chennai win by eight wickets
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Results
5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Nadhra, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: AF Dars, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: AF Musannef, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Taghzel, Malin Holmberg, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: M’Y Yaromoon, Khalifa Al Neyadi, Jesus Rosales
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (PA) 1,400m; Winner: Hakeem, Jim Crowley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
UAE%20FIXTURES
%3Cp%3EWednesday%2019%20April%20%E2%80%93%20UAE%20v%20Kuwait%3Cbr%3EFriday%2021%20April%20%E2%80%93%20UAE%20v%20Hong%20Kong%3Cbr%3ESunday%2023%20April%20%E2%80%93%20UAE%20v%20Singapore%3Cbr%3EWednesday%2026%20April%20%E2%80%93%20UAE%20v%20Bahrain%3Cbr%3ESaturday%2029%20April%20%E2%80%93%20Semi-finals%3Cbr%3ESunday%2030%20April%20%E2%80%93%20Third%20position%20match%3Cbr%3EMonday%201%20May%20%E2%80%93%20Final%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
'The Predator'
Dir: Shane Black
Starring: Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook, Keegan-Michael Key
Two and a half stars
