The Cleveland Indians. The Washington Redskins.

These are sports franchises that exist in the United States currently … in 2016. Which, when you think long and hard about it, is, uh, pretty screwed up.

If you’re really asking WHY it’s so screwed up, just peer at the screenshot above. In it you’ll see ESPN reporter Bomani Jones (a very well-respected reporter we might add) sporting a shirt on a Thursday airing of the live television program Mike and Mike that says in clear gamey red cursive ink “Caucasians”. Notice the kicker? All it is IS the Cleveland Indians logo (Chief Wahoo) with a white man in place of the “Indian” and the name changed to follow suit.

Remember that old empathetic idiom “walk a mile in my shoes”? Swap out shoes for shirt and it’s this. And also somewhat Biblical, no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgUDDCTto3g

Here’s a little of what Jones said, via Deadspin via ESPN (Molly Qerim was the host doing the interview):

Jones: The reason they won’t get rid of Chief Wahoo, which is completely indefensible, is they could still sell stuff with it. They can say they’re gonna de-emphasize it, but they’re not just gonna set money on fire. I thought [the shirt] was the exact same thing, and I could see the value in the design, so I was like, hey, we might as well give this a run.

Qerim: I think more thought went into it. I think you were trying to make some kind of statement.

Jones: The statement is obvious. This [shirt] is the same thing. What we have here, this is the same thing that goes on with the logo for the Cleveland Indians, right? So, to have a problem with the logo of this, would be to have a problem with the Indians, but if you’re quiet about the Indians, and you got something to say about my shirt, I think it’s time for introspection. I think that’s a fair thing to ask.

Today, about 5.2 million people in the United States identify as American Indian or Alaska Native (1.7 percent of the total population) — according to the most recent census. Historians say that before Christopher Columbus reached North America in the late 1400s, there were more than 18 million Native Americans in the area that is now the modern U.S. alone.