Mitchell, whose No. 49 will be retired by the Redskins, was the first black player acquired by the franchiseGETTY IMAGES
The Redskins announced that they are "retiring the No. 49 of the late Bobby Mitchell and renaming FedEx Field's lower seating bowl, formerly called the George Preston Marshall Level, in his honor," according to Liz Clarke of the WASHINGTON POST. The announcement on Saturday "came a day after a monument to Marshall, the team's founding owner, was dismantled and removed from outside RFK Stadium by Events DC, the city's convention and sports authority." Events DC called the action an "overdue step," given that it honored a man who actively resisted integration. Clarke wrote many would "argue that the Redskins are overdue in honoring Mitchell, given his significant contributions, on and off the field, in his 41 years with the team as a player, scout and front-office executive." Mitchell was the "first black player acquired by Marshall." The decision to rename FedEx Field's lower bowl marks the first time in Dan Snyder's 21 years as Redskins Owner that he has "sought to distance the team from racism in its past." The team's six-paragraph statement about the change "makes no reference to Marshall, whose name also appears on the Ring of Fame that encircles the stadium's inside upper wall." A source said that the team is "revisiting the question of whether Marshall should remain among the 51 members of the organization honored there." Mitchell is only the "second former player to have his number retired in the team's 88-year history" Meanwhile, Snyder has "given no indication that he is willing to reconsider the team's nickname" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/21).
PRIME TIME: USA TODAY's Jarrett Bell wrote now is the "perfect time for Snyder to acknowledge the degrading message that his team's name sends to many Native Americans and just change the thing." Snyder can "keep the team colors," but changing the name "would allow Snyder ... to stand pretty tall with a clean slate." Bell: "Talk about rebuilding an image overnight" (USA TODAY, 6/19). In DC, Mike Wise writes if nothing else has happened with this franchise and league in the past month, the Redskins "can't duck and run on this issue ever again." Wise: "I imagine Snyder will have grandchildren one day. And they will ask and wonder about who he really was, deciding whether to adopt his values and beliefs. And on this I offer only one piece of advice: If he wants them to come back for his funeral, if he wants a monument of himself not to be defaced and torn down one day, he ought to remove the word 'never' from his vocabulary before his own racial injustice is forever stamped as part of his legacy" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/22).
