Adidas announced Thursday plans to devote resources to U.S. high schools looking to ditch their Native American mascots, even offering to help with the redesign of graphics and uniforms free of charge.
The German sports company made the offer to coincide with the White House's
Tribal Nation Conference, Fox News reported.
The company offered graphic design resources to schools to redesign logos and uniforms, as well as financial aid, and also said it would be a founding member of a group focused on addressing the issue of Native American mascots in the sports world.
''Today's announcement is a great way for us to offer up our resources to schools that want to do what's right — to administrators, teachers, students, and athletes who want to make a difference in their lives and in their world,'' Eric Liedtke, head of the Adidas
global brands division, said in a statement to The Associated Press. ''Our intention is to help break down any barriers to change — change that can lead to a more respectful and inclusive environment for all American athletes."
FiveThirtyEight Sports reported that more than 2,100 high school, college, pro, semi-pro, and amateur sports teams across the country have Native American names such as Braves, Indians, and Redskins.
A few people went online to tell Adidas how much they welcome the approach to changing what some consider to be racist team names. One of those was Valerie Jarrett, President Barack Obama's senior advisor, and another was Secretary of Interior Sally Jewel: