A private school in Maryland has banned all Washington Redskins gear with the team name or logo following classroom discussions about race and ethnicity. Green Acres head of school Neal Brown told told Bethesda Magazine the school felt responsible for allowing children and faculty to wear clothing that sends racist messages, even if well-intentioned:
A private school in North Bethesda is banning apparel with the Washington Redskins team name or logo after concluding “we cannot continue to allow children or staff members—however well intentioned—to wear clothing that disparages a race of people.”
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“I think it’s only honest to acknowledge the times when the need to be respectful and thoughtful and sensitive overrides people’s ability to express themselves as they’d like,” he said.
The use of the Redskins name and logo has been a hot topic in the NFL for several years now. Owner Dan Snyder believes the franchise brings honor and dignity to Native Americans, and even though some polls say the vast majority of Native Americans don’t find the term offensive, there are many others who do. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on trademarks with offensive material bodes well for Snyder’s hopes to keep the team name.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Brown clarified that, technically, this new rule doesn’t change anything in the school’s dress code, which already banned offensive clothing:
“Our dress code calls for kids to wear respectful clothing, not to wear anything that is offensive,” Brown said in an interview. “It isn’t a new policy, it’s just the application of our current policy.”
Although the school acknowledged that repressing individual expression can be a touchy issue, the head of school said there has been no pushback from parents since the school instituted the policy on Aug. 25. Green Acres is not the first school in the area to institute such a policy. Sidwell Friends School, a Quaker school located in Bethesda and Washington D.C., banned Redskins gear last year, according to the Washington Post.
Green Acres is just a few minutes outside of Washington D.C., so naturally it houses plenty of Redskins fans. Brown said the school’s student body includes at least one Native American family that has felt “great distress” from seeing the Redskins name and logo around the school. The school will attempt to enforce the policy in a way that doesn’t condemn students fandom for the team while teaching inclusivity:
“We want to approach this with children in a very age-appropriate and sensitive way. We’re in no way trying to vilify anyone for rooting for the local football team because, in truth, I root for the local football team,” said Brown, whose school instructs students from age 3 through eighth grade.
For example, school staff might ask older students to don a Green Acres T-shirt to cover clothing with the Redskins logo or the staff might call a younger student’s parents to reiterate the policy, he said.
The report did not mention if the consequences would change for those who break the dress code multiple times.
