Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Washington Redskins over Blackout Tuesday tweet

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Redskins to change their name if they truly believe in solving racial injustices

If you’re going to support the fight against racial injustice, think about what your team name on the Twitter account is first.

Someone should have pointed this out to the Washington Redskins, who participated in the Blackout Tuesday digital protest but did so without considering all of the facts first.

Perhaps the most blatant fact is the team’s long history with defending the choice to not change it’s the racially insensitive name. Redskin is a term dating back to the 19th century used by white settlers to describe Native Americans. As more and more land was stolen from Native Americans and the massacring of Native Americans became commonplace over the next century, the terms quickly took on an even more derogatory tone.

That’s the crux of the hypocrisy many pointed out when Washington tweeted in support of ending racial injustice when they are on the frontlines of making such changes possible.

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among the many to call out Washington for the hypocrisy in their statement.

Why is Washington getting attacked for posting on Blackout Tuesday?

Washington has long been the target of attacks over its name, which is a racial slur meant as a derogatory term towards Native Americans dating back to the founding of the country.

Over the years, the plea to get Daniel Snyder to change the name of his team has grown louder. Back in 2014, John Oliver devoted an entire segment of his show Last Week Tonight to explaining why the name is causing so much outrage and then destroying any counterarguments that defend not changing it.

Petitions have been going around to get the team’s name changed for decades, yet despite this Snyder has remained almost smugly steadfast in not wanting to change it. He’s gone as far as to bring Native Americans to midfield before and during games to show that the outrage is being felt by most isn’t being felt by all — specifically the Native American community.

It’s a common tactic used to deflate an argument, but that doesn’t equate to the problem not existing. Daniel Snyder doesn’t appear to be changing the name of his team anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean he can’t — not won’t — continue to be relentlessly called out for having a professional sports team in 2020 with a 19th century racial slur as its name.