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Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. Madam President, I rise today to talk about the need to right a wrong. The National Football League and the Washington Commanders must do more to honor the Commanders' Native American heritage, as powerfully symbolized by the team's former iconic logo, and they must commit to never ever again censor it or degrade it.

Here is the story. This is a photograph from the 1960s of Blackie Wetzel and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Blackie Wetzel was a member of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana and served his people and the country in many roles throughout his life, including chairman of the Blackfeet Tribe and president of the National Congress of American Indians.

In 1971, Blackie met with George Herbert Allen, who was then the head coach and the general manager of Washington's premiere professional sports franchise, the Washington Redskins. Knowing that Coach Allen admired and supported Native Americans, Blackie Wetzel encouraged him to replace the team's ``R'' logo with something that represented Indian Country. Blackie brought Coach Allen pictures of prominent Native American figures, including Blackfeet Chief Two Guns White Calf, who is pictured here on this poster board beside me.

On behalf of the team, Coach Allen adopted the now legendary logo that became the symbol of this storied franchise and among one of the most popular in league history.

Make no mistake, this logo was inspired, it was envisioned by Blackie Wetzel as a tribute to Native Americans.

By the way, it is not a character. It is a depiction of pride and of strength, a depiction of courage, of honor. In fact, as Blackie Wetzel said in 2002:

It made us all so proud to have an Indian on a big-time team.

And, I will tell you, support from the Wetzel family, the White Calf family, and the Blackfeet Nation remains as strong as ever today.

In fact, the Blackfeet Nation recently expressed their ``wholehearted support'' for the logo and urged the NFL and the Commanders to restore it to a place of ``prominence and honor.''

In fact, I will never forget Don Wetzel when he came to me 3 years ago--in fact, 3 years ago this very week--to share his father's remarkable legacy and to tell me directly the logo still mattered to him and to his family even after the team stopped using it.

Now, for context, the contributions of our Nation's Native American Tribes to our country's culture and heritage is beyond dispute. And this includes their service in the Armed Forces.

Do you realize that Native Americans serve our country in uniform at the highest percentage of any ethnic group? They are warriors for our country. And we honor them, and we honor all veterans this week.

Any franchise should be proud to be associated with Native American heritage. But, unfortunately, in February of this year, the NFL deliberately censored the logo on its official X account, as you can see here. They did this when honoring previous Super Bowl winners, and the Commanders are selling a shirt even today that does the same.

You might ask what I mean by ``censoring the logo.'' Well, in the case of the NFL, they photoshopped graphics to cover up the logo on the team's helmet, as you can see here. This is John Riggins. It is a picture of one of the great legends of Washington, DC.

And in the case of a shirt that was honoring Darrell Green, the logo is completely removed from the helmet, as if it were some sort of obscene image.

Now, this blatant censorship is outrageous, and it is offensive, not to mention hypocritical. Players wore the very same shirt in pregame warmups with one major difference. You will see here that the logo is proudly displayed, as it should be. We can see the logo. So why couldn't fans share the same enthusiasm by purchasing a shirt with a legendary player and a legendary logo?

And I have got to tell you, the censorship of honorable Native imagery certainly does not promote diversity, equity, or inclusion.

And let me be clear. Anyone who has been following this issue for the past few months knows this: I am not calling for the return of the former team name.

Let me say that again, because there are folks who twist this. I am not calling for the return of the former team name, which had become increasingly controversial, especially in Indian Country. But unlike the former name, the logo was rarely a subject of controversy; and, in fact, it was never alleged to be disparaging during the trademark disputes against the team that spanned many years.

And while some individuals might object to teams featuring any Tribal imagery, however honorable and realistic, there is no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming majority of fans in Indian Country and beyond believe that Washington's former logo is honorable, and it is a point of pride.

Look no further than the Blackfeet Nation's chairman of the Tribal council writing this letter supporting the logo. It was dated September 23, 2024. It was therefore wrong and simply unnecessary for the NFL and the team's former ownership to discard the logo and abandon its nearly 90-year connection to Indian Country.

Now, the good news is that the new Commanders owners have taken some positive steps since the May committee hearing on legislation related to RFK Stadium here in Washington. I applaud them for honoring Wetzel with a permanent memorial at Northwest Stadium. And I am told that censoring the logo on the Darrell Green shirt was an oversight, and it won't happen again when other Washington legends are featured on shirts in the future.

It is also my undersigning that the Commanders are continuing to have good-faith conversations with the Wetzel family on potentially allowing a new foundation, to be created, to use the iconic logo to draw attention to critical issues facing Indian Country.

I sincerely hope these conversations result in the team taking additional action to honor the Blackfeet Nation's contributions to the team's history and, frankly, the rich Native American heritage surrounding our Nation's Capital.

I also strongly encourage the NFL to allow sales of vintage merchandise featuring the Native American logo where market demand exists. And if the Commanders want to occasionally wear the throwback uniform with the classic helmet, the NFL should fully support it.

Can you imagine the Cowboys star once again lined up, helmet to helmet, with the Blackfeet chief?

Now, I know enough about marketing and public relations to realize the NFL needs assistance and assurances that its corporate sponsors and media partners won't protest and create a stir were such sales to resume. So I would like to publicly call on the NFL's sponsors to hear the support of the Blackfeet Nation, to hear the support of the Wetzel family, and to hear the thunderous support of fans across the country for honoring the logo, for allowing NFL-sanctioned merchandise sales featuring it, and for supporting Indian Country along the way.

Corporate sponsors, I urge you to let the NFL know you recognize the Native American logo was never the problem and that you believe it should be celebrated, not censored moving forward.

I am not the first Senator to come to this floor to draw attention to Washington's football franchise or to make demands in the context of extending the lease for RFK Stadium. Senator Harry Reid and Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, among others, used this platform to demand that the team change its name.

Well, today on behalf of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana--and, no doubt, with the support of millions of football fans across the country--I come to the Senate floor to say our culture overcorrected in 2020. The NFL overcorrected. The team's previous ownership overcorrected. Sponsors overcorrected. And we are still seeing shocking displays of censorship of an honorable logo as a result.

But now can be the day of righting that wrong. As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month this November, what better time to do it than now? What better time to restore one of the NFL's greatest logos ever to the--as the Blackfeet Tribe wrote in their letter--``place of prominence and honor'' as hoped for and called for by the Blackfeet Nation of Montana.

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