Marshall will also be removed from Washington's Ring of Fame at FedEx Field, per ESPN's John Keim. A marble monument for George Preston Marshall, the founder of the Washington football team who was against integrating the team, was removed from outside RFK Stadium on Friday morning, Events DC announced in a statement Friday. I don’t have some quick easy answer because there isn’t one but I can tell you what’s not going to work.

I understand that they’re are deep issues with the history of this country, many and all countries all participated in horrible things if you dig deep enough.īlotting it out like it didn’t happen isn’t going to fix what’s happening now with the police and African Americans and the general population for that matter. Where does it end? We need to work on the fact that there are police officers out there who seem to enjoy hurting or killing American citizens and then being saved by the Blue Line when prosecution occurs. How about any man before a certain date who thought women shouldn’t vote or that they were weaker and less intelligent than men? ġ9th century new york and Baltimore politicians who openly hated and abused Irishman. Protestant colonialists who did what they could to disenfranchise Catholics and vice versa. Let’s stop honoring Hispanics founders in the southwest who helped in native American genocide, white and black pioneers who where all about CHinese persecution in CAlifornia. Any positives he contributed to the league are outweighed by the enormous negative of keeping black players off his team solely because of the color of their skin. In 1963, when Marshall was enshrined in the Hall of Fame, his years as an owner were viewed as “outstanding contributions.” But with more than half a century to reflect on Marshall’s role in the NFL, it’s hard to justify the stance that his contributions were, on balance, worthy of a bust in Canton. Marshall was elected specifically as a contributor, which the Hall of Fame says is designed for people who made outstanding contributions to the game in capacities other than playing or coaching. Simpson would be an obvious example of a player who some would say should be removed, but there’s a fundamental difference between Simpson and Marshall: Simpson was elected solely for what he did on the field, and no one disputes that Simpson was a Hall of Fame-caliber player. By declining to change them, the Hall of Fame may be less standing up for Marshall than avoiding the idea that every Hall of Famer is always subject to scrutiny, even decades after he’s enshrined in Canton. “Once elected, nothing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s bylaws allows for the removal of a Hall member,” the Hall of Fame said in a statement to PFT.īut the bylaws could, of course, be changed. The Hall of Fame said that’s not possible: Once the selection committee puts a Hall of Famer in, he’s a Hall of Famer forever.

That raises a question: Should Marshall’s bust also be removed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame? A monument to George Preston Marshall, former owner of Washington’s NFL team, has been removed from the stadium where they used to play because he was a segregationist who prevented black players from playing on his team until the government forced him to integrate.

Preston pro player stadium