Rangers won't change name amid criticism of connection to police force

The Texas Rangers have no plans to change their name despite its connection to the famous law enforcement agency, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

"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 team said Friday, according to Grant. "The Texas Rangers Baseball Club stands for equality. We condemn racism, bigotry, and discrimination in all forms."

Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune opined in a Wednesday column that the team should distance itself from the nickname due to the racist history of the Texas Rangers police force.

Chapman, citing Doug J. Swanson's new book on the Rangers agency, wrote that its officers "burned peasant villages and slaughtered innocents."

The baseball team's statement came in response to Chapman's column.

"To help bring about meaningful change, we are committed to listening to and supporting our communities of color," the club continued. "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."

Protests following George Floyd's death in police custody have already led to changes in Texas with regard to the Rangers police force. A 12-foot statue of Texas Ranger officer Jay Banks was removed from Dallas Love Field Airport earlier in June.

MLB's Rangers are not the first baseball team to be involved in a nickname controversy. The Cleveland Indians have faced criticism over their moniker for several decades; they ceased using their Chief Wahoo logo - long decried as a racist depiction of Native Americans - in 2019.