Online marketplace Etsy has banned the sale of items using the name or logo of the Washington, D.C., football team, because the term is disparaging to Native Americans.
The company wrote in a blog post that it seeks “to balance two principles that are critically important to us: freedom of speech and protection from discrimination,” and that the change was meant to keep Etsy “safe, welcoming, and respectful for everyone, including artists, women, and minorities.”
In the post, the Etsy team said that it’s sure fans who sport the name or logo have no ill-will toward Native Americans, but that the company was going to follow the lead of the ethnic minority itself. “Native American groups have consistently advocated and litigated that the term ‘redskin(s)’ is disparaging and damaging to Native Americans,” the post read.
This is just the latest criticism of the team’s name, which owners and the NFL have staunchly refused to change. Many publications have stopped using the slur to refer to the Washington team, and the U.S. Patent office canceled the team’s trademark.
Of course, plenty of other offensive options are still in stock on Etsy’s site, including many swastika-themed items (and not just in the other-than-Nazi-themed way) and ones featuring the Cleveland Indians’ mascot, Chief Wahoo.
