Washington Post renews call for change to Washington name

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On several occasions in recent years, the Washington Post has called upon the Washington NFL franchise to change its name. A new column pushing for change, in light of ongoing world events, emerged on Tuesday.

Given this historic time in American history, Barry Svrluga argues that now is the time to finally make the change. It’s an appropriate and accurate argument; however, it’s impossible to present an opinion of the Washington Post without noting the extent to which a pair of deeply flawed polls from the Washington Post have emboldened team owner Daniel Snyder to keep his heels dug in.

Make no mistake about it: The organization’s knee-jerk reaction to calls for change continues to be hiding behind the 2016 Washington Post poll, which found that 90 percent of Native Americans are not offended by the term. (This obviously implies that it’s perfectly fine if one in 10 Native Americans are offended by the term. Many fair-minded people would say 10 percent is too many.) Svrluga acknowledges that poll, while also subtly diluting its impact by lumping in a grossly outdated 2004 poll from Annenberg Public Policy Center. But Svrluga makes no reference to very real questions about the accuracy of the 2016 Washington Post poll, based on criticism raised at the time and much more recently.

In the aftermath of the publication of the 2016 Washington Post poll, the Native American Journalists Association responded harshly.

“Not only does the reporting fail to pass the test of accurate and ethical reporting, it also attempts to legitimize a defined racial slur and is an egregious example of creating the news rather than simply reporting it,” the NAJA declares in a statement at the time, pointing out that the polls reliance on “self-identifying” Native Americans “is not a reliable indicator of indigenous tribal ancestry.”

“There are numerous available examples of statistical data sets, including the U.S. Census, that are skewed by non-Native individuals claiming to be Native American based on personal belief rather than verifiable citizenship with a tribal nation, or verifiable lineage from a tribal citizen,” the NAJA explained. It argued that, because only 44 percent of the persons polled by the Washington Post claimed to be tribal citizens, the other 56 percent “were likely not Native American.”

A study published earlier this year contradicted the 2016 Washington Post poll by showing that the degree of insult dramatically increases with the degree of identification. Of those who “strongly identify with being Native American,” 57 percent are offended by the term. Of those who “frequently engage in tribal cultural practices,” 67 percent are insulted.

So if the Washington Post is going to agitate for change, it shouldn’t simply recite blindly the polling that has become Snyder’s primary shield; it should admit that the polling was flawed and/or conduct a poll that isn’t. However, Svrluga doesn’t do that. His column doesn’t even mention the criticism of the accuracy of the 2016 Washington Post poll.

And the 2016 poll isn’t some sort of Washington Post aberration. A 2019 poll, not mentioned by Svrluga, seemed to be presented in a way to help Snyder’s cause, presenting only a sliver of the results and declaring that the most common reaction from 500 people who identify as Native American to the team name was “proud.” The 2019 Washington Post poll didn’t share the number of the 500 who said “proud,” nor did the 2019 Washington Post poll identify the number of people who responded by saying “indifferent,” “annoyed,” “content,” “satisfied,” and “disappointed.” Thus, it’s entirely possible that the combined negative responses (“annoyed” and “disappointed”) outnumbered those who said “proud.”

Thus, if the Washington Post truly wants to compel change, and not merely pander to those who do, it should deal with the flaws in its past polls and, if needed, admit that one or both polls were simply wrong. As to the 2016 poll, that would go a long way toward ripping away Snyder’s security blanket when it comes to continuing to refuse to do something that would cause history to remember him a lot more favorably than it otherwise will.