Symbols are communally created and communally shared. The naming of sports teams is right now carrying this larger symbolic battle. Which places ardent sports fans with a conscience in a real dilemma. Personally, I was horrified when I learned the history of California early in the American era (who wouldn’t be?); nonetheless, I still feel an emotional attachment to the name of our local football team. Which points to a notable quirk of our human nature: It is easy to tell someone else to change the name of their team or place or take down a monument when you are emotionally detached, but when it is personal, all of a sudden it looks and feels very different.
When is it acceptable to retain a name or monument when the historical record is mixed, and when does the reparation of injustice require a change? Does the name “49ers” honor a generation that committed unspeakable crimes against a vulnerable population, or does it refer to a pivotal moment of history that defined the life of our city then and far into the future? Such decisions should be made, not in the wake of acts of vandalism perpetrated by bands of aggrieved citizens, but in the context of reasoned debate based on historical accuracy and the weighing moral principles.
With all due respect to the archbishop, we are talking about a football team, and I’ve never met a true fan who cares about any of this.
It’s a football team, and we don’t need people who take this stuff so seriously or feel compelled to study the issue. Again, it’s a football team that represents a city, not a statue of a Confederate general.
My advice to “the woke nation” is to start their own league. I’m sure contributions to BLM could put together a few rosters, and then they can choose names that don’t offend anyone, such as the San Francisco Colorless or the Los Angeles PCers or the Seattle Defunders.
Start your own league, and I’m sure that ESPN will give you a TV contract on one of its failing networks. Leave the NFL to us who enjoy football, not arguing about the names and what group did this to that other group 150 years before any of us was born.
