Take down statues, but the Texas Rangers should not change their name
The latest target in the attempt to cleanse America of her ugly past now potentially includes changing the name of our local baseball team.
The Texas Rangers have done some horrid things in their history, and I’m not talking about trading Sammy Sosa, decades of offensive pitching and an unyielding commitment to mediocrity.
Venerable baseball reporter Buster Olney of ESPN tossed out the possibility of the Rangers changing their name in the last week. Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman took it further by suggesting that it needs to happen.
Statues for losing, overrated Confederate soldiers should go, but the Texas Rangers do not need to change their name.
Sports has the Braves, Indians, Raiders, Pirates, Chiefs and Rangers, but there is only one that needs to change. Looking at you, Washington’s NFL team.
Changing the name of a baseball team alters nothing.
In response to this recent “call to action,” the Rangers released a statement on Friday: “While we may have originally taken our name from the law enforcement agency, since 1971 the Texas Rangers Baseball Club has forged its own, independent identity. The Texas Rangers Baseball Club stands for equality. We condemn racism, bigotry and discrimination in all forms.
“To help bring about meaningful change, we are committed to listening to and supporting our communities of color. Over the past 30 years, the Texas Rangers Foundation has invested more than $45 million on programs and grants in the areas of health, education and crisis assistance for youth in our underserved communities. We go forward committed to do even more, with a renewed promise that the Texas Rangers name will represent solutions and hope for a better future for our communities.”
I’m not even sure this was necessary, but these days ...
When the blush, mascara and lip gloss fade from America’s weathered face, we can’t change how the authentic lines, blemishes and bruises formed.
Like any nation, America’s past, and its leaders, have so many ugly stories that you don’t even need to look hard to condemn nearly all of them for their inexcusable sins.
Changing the name of the Texas Rangers is a diversion to the genuine points of contention, equality, decency and opportunity.
The mild lobby for the Rangers to change their name comes during our time of the Black Lives Matter movement, which includes a cease and desist on celebrating our flawed heroes.
The Texas Rangers are not merely the charming creation of author Larry McMurtry’s Gus and Call, the ex-lawmen turned ranchers from the classic Western novel “Lonesome Dove.”
The Texas Rangers are not the cowboy-hat wearing defacto Chuck Norris from the popular CBS TV show.
The Texas Rangers are the oldest law enforcement group in North America, and were founded by Stephen F. Austin in 1823. Their past includes killing God knows how many Mexicans and Native Americans, and abusing and murdering however many Black Americans, too.
Consuming a Texas Rangers baseball game is not canonizing this dated law enforcement organization. It’s plausible most Americans have no clue the Texas Rangers are anything other than a baseball team.
As America endures another painful growth spurt, part of the Black Lives Movement is the unofficial denouncement of some storied figures, and the needed shove to no longer celebrate those who do not deserve it.
That extends to sports, where some teams have removed “Rebels” as their nickname.
The only appropriate place for a Robert E. Lee statue is the Gettysburg battlefield, not a town square. The statues of Confederate soldiers only work at places like Vicksburg, Shiloh, Chancellorsville and the rest.
The sad line of America’s past is that most of our influential leaders, from Washington to Jefferson to the men of the Texas Rangers, were flawed products of their time. You know ... people.
Critics insist that by removing statues and paintings of our leaders who were deeply racist erases America’s history.
Nothing erases history. Ask Germany. Ask the Jewish people of Eastern Europe. Ask the slaves of Africa. Ask the Chinese who were used as human experiments by the Japanese during WWII.
This is our face, and these our are flaws. We are better to own it and educate than to just bury it all.
To keep a statue of George Washington is not an endorsement of his hypocritical attitude toward slavery. At his home in Mount Vernon, Va., there is a concerted effort to make sure visitors know “The General” owned 200 slaves, and that they were not freed until he died.
All of America’s hallowed locales owe it to every American to present the complete, flawed, portraits of our leaders.
If the Texas Rangers’ baseball team wants to educate fans on the history of the Texas Rangers’ law enforcement agency, not just the highlights, they have a museum. They have plenty of space in the concourses of their new stadium ... should they play baseball again.
The Texas Rangers should feel no more pressure to change their name than the Detroit Tigers or New York Mets.
They are just a baseball team.
Changing their name is nothing more than an empty sugar high and a diversion from the real issues.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 2:34 PM.
