Adidas enabled more political correctness across the nation on Thursday by offering to pay for free design resources to high schools looking to replace Native American mascots, nicknames, imagery, or symbolism.
The German athletic shoe and apparel manufacturer’s fight for social justice announced the initiative in conjunction with the White House Tribal Nations Conference. On top of offering free design, Adidas plans to underwrite at least a portion of the cost for the high schools’ mascot transition.
According to ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell, Adidas asked high schools to contact the company via email if they have an offensive mascot. The company believes that high schools have limited resources to make the change. With Adidas’s help now they will be able to do so.
Change the Mascot, an organization that emphasizes “Native Americans are people, not mascots,” informs that about 2,000 schools nationwide currently exhibit Native American mascots. “The growing movement to end the use of Native American mascots, particularly the dictionary-defined R-word slur, is surging forward all across the nation,” the group said in a statement.
Eric Liedtke, Adidas head of global brands, claims, “Today’s announcement is a great way for us to offer up our resources to schools that want to do what’s right — to administrators, teachers, students and athletes who want to make a difference in their lives and in their world,” Liedtke added that “Our intention is to help break down any barriers to change — change that can lead to a more respectful and inclusive environment for all American athletes.”
Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder refuses to change the Redskins name. He insists that he has the support of many Native Americans who believe that the name celebrates the history and the traditions of America’s indigenous people.
Last year Snyder told former Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley, co-host of ESPN 980’s The Drive, that the logo for the Redskins was crafted in 1971 by a Native American chief of the Blackfoot Nation who stated, “I want to create a logo for the team, because we really think it should represent us.”