Photo by mosley.brian

The ranks inside The Washington Post that are uneasy with writing the name of the Washington football team are continuing to grow. And the latest columnist to make a stand against the team’s name could have a real impact on how Post readers approach the paper’s coverage of their favorite NFL team.

In his column yesterday, Patrick Pexton, the Post’s ombudsman, shared with readers an editorial decision made last month in which a story about a high-school swim team in Bethesda was yanked because it would have featured a photo of the team wearing face paint and feathers.

Here’s how Pexton described the story’s spiking:

As Matthew Rennie, sports day editor, explained, “We didn’t want to offend anyone, if anyone would be offended, and we didn’t want to put the girls on the receiving end of something they didn’t deserve.”

So what’s behind this? A sudden attack of political correctness? No, actually.

High school sports stories are closely edited because they are, after all, about minors who should not be subject to the same level of examination that highly paid professional athletes are.

At the same time, though, the Washington ‘Skins’ full name continues to appear regularly in the Post, though in the last week, two Metro columnists—Courtland Milloy and Robert McCartney—have written, quite passionately, that the name is racist and that it’s time for a change. Those columns were pegged to a Smithsonian event last week in which panels of experts assembled at the National Museum of the American Indian debated the social impact of professional sports teams that use Native American imagery in their branding—no team more controversially than the local NFL franchise. At the Smithsonian event, Post sports columnist Mike Wise also said that he would propose the Post attempt to take a stronger editorial stand against the team’s name.

Pexton seems to be on the same page:

I talked to Native American groups and individuals this week, too, about the football team’s name, and about the swimmers in their garb. I’m not sure words can properly convey the depth of feeling I heard from them.

Wearing face paint and feathers, many Native Americans feel, is a taking of their cultural and religious traditions. The paint and feathers have distinct meanings for each tribe and nation, and they often are worn only because an individual has earned them through tests, deeds and ceremonies of which white culture has little knowledge or appreciation.

Meanwhile, the swim team learned an important lesson about cultural appropriation, though the professional football team’s name continues to be uttered by countless fans and in the pages of the Post and other publications.

Not that Pexton begrudges ‘Skins fans. People who deck themselves in burgundy and gold every Sunday in fall and winter aren’t racist, though they could take better care to listen to those who are impacted by the team’s name.