'Feels Like A Step Forward, But There Are Still A Lot Of Steps To Go': Author Stephen Graham Jones On Washington's Decision To Change Football Team Name
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WJZ) -- The Washington football team name is in the process of being changed. For Indigenous people, the changing of the name is a long overdue victory. For author Stephen Graham Jones, whose book The Only Good Indians, released the day after the team announced it would be changing its name it was an odd feeling and one that seemed like an intertwining of fate.
"It felt weird that this book came out one day after the Washington Redskins said they were going to change their name, which I'm thrilled about of course. I was always quite insulted by that," said Graham Jones in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "The world is changing right now. I'm not at all saying my book is part of that but the whole world is being swept forward with the change. My book is just part of that world being swept ahead."
The new name of the team is still yet to be determined but, the organization has already said it will not be using Native American imagery in its new logo. The changing of the name is a step in the right direction, but one of the very first ones on a long journey according to Graham Jones.
"It feels like a step forward," said Graham Jones. "And it feels like, maybe not a first step forward but a second or third step forward but there are still a lot of steps to go."
The author hopes that his book can be part of that journey. In the novel, readers follow four American Indian men as they deal with a disturbing event from their youth that puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Graham Jones said that he wanted to show indigenous people in a light that people don't often see based on the depictions in media over the years.
"One of my goals is, I want to show the world American Indians that they don't expect," said Graham Jones. "They expect us to still be in the 19th century wearing loincloths and living in lodges and stuff. But, it's not like that anymore we're not locked in a John Wayne movie. We're moving ahead. That is a big part of what The Only Good Indians is about to me."
The Only Good Indians is available now wherever books are sold.
