Both teams have been in lawsuits or have been threatened by legal actions from outside activist groups involving the rights and registrations of their organization’s trademarks. Other professional teams that are also implicated in similar offenses are the NFL’s Kanas City Chiefs, the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, and the MLB’s Atlanta Braves.
Unfortunately, there is no legal basis to force or obligate teams to vacate their racist logos and names. Instead, change can only be evoked when teams lose business deals and profits as a result of their offensive trademarks. Therefore, in order to help the sports industry propel past injustice, interest groups should not take legal action, but rather generate social actions around the racial insensitivity of the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians operations in attempts to create a more inclusive environment for all