Washington DC will always hold a special significance to members of the Blackfeet Nation.It is where Chief White Calf died while a guest of President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House in 1903. And it is where his adopted son, Chief John Two Guns White Calf, the last chief of the Blackfoot tribe, became a figure recognized around the world years after his death.In 1971, his image became the logo of the Washington Redskins. For nearly 50 years, his face adorned one of the NFL’s most striking helmets and featured on jerseys and merchandise visible around the world.Then, in 2020, his image was ‘erased’, with the team rebranding as the Commanders amid a wave of pressure during the country’s focus on social justice following the death of George Floyd. But now, his descendants are stepping up their efforts to bring it back. ‘The family was never consulted, not once, on what our thoughts are, how we felt about our grandfather’s image being out there,’ Morningstar Gopher, press and media relations lead for the family estate, tells the Daily Mail. ‘Our grandfather has contributed to their brand, to the Redskins brand, for almost 50 years. Not one phone call, not one meeting, not one email sent on their part to our family.’The family will head back to Washington DC from their home in Montana for a Redskins summit in November. On the agenda, they hope, will be a meeting with the White House and President Donald Trump as well as trying to finally create dialogue with the NFL franchise that carried their grandfather’s legacy for so long.They are proposing naming the new stadium on the RFK Stadium site, slated to open in 2030, as the John Two Guns White Calf Memorial Stadium, making it the first ever NFL stadium to be named after a Native American. The Washington Redskins dropped the name and logo in 2020, rebranding as the Commanders Chief Two Guns White Calf served as the logo since 1971 and his family wants him restored ‘Our vision for the redeveloped stadium is a gathering place for tribal nations – a yearly powwow, tribal showcases, and cultural events – celebrating who we are and where we come from,’ says Loud Thunder Conway, a cultural lead and powwow dancer in the family who called the removal of the logo ‘deeply troubling.’ They have invited Commanders leadership, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and sponsors who threatened to pull funding from the team over the issue in 2020 to attend a cultural showcase on November 20.The family feels activist groups were ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ and also took advantage of Dan Snyder facing a huge crisis when the issue came to a head six years ago. Ultimately, they feel the combination of factors ‘led to the cancelation of our grandfather.’In recent years, the family has united to try and tell their story and ‘chipping away at this issue,’ with the understanding it is a complex story which continues to stir up significant debate in the Native American community and beyond.President Trump himself has consistently been outspoken in opposing the decision to drop the Redskins branding, continuing to refer to the franchise by its old name.’Looking at it from, you know, a bipartisan lens, I have to agree with him on that aspect with bringing back the logo and the image,’ Morningstar says. ‘I might be a bit biased with it being my family, but you know, at the end of the day, representation is so important, and our people. You can go around to every single tribal nation in the United States and Canada, and you know they would know. They would point that out, and they would say, “Hey, that’s the Redskins.”‘You know, our grandfather’s image was so powerful that you know he was able to really push that whole agenda forward. 100 years later, here we are, or almost 100 years later, and that is how powerful our grandfather’s image is. I think that’s where a lot of people are misinformed on this issue of “oh, it’s considered a slur.” It’s very controversial.’Our native people are not a costume. We’re not a mascot, and I do agree in that aspect. But also, at what point does it cut off from ‘oh, our native people are not a mascot’ to ‘oh we’re going to erase your people’. Where do we draw the line? Because that symbolism was the best symbolism we had in terms of representation for our people. Protestors insisted Native Americans are ‘not mascots’ and pressured on the team to rebrand Native American groups remain torn over the issue, with many wanting the brand to remain Descendants of Two Guns White Calf feel his image was ‘erased’ and want it restored’So in terms of really pushing out our message and telling our story, we want to educate people on who he was. And we know we are going to get a lot of flak on this issue. Yes, we are not a mascot. We agree with that, but also, we are here. We’re not going anywhere.’And so now that we can push our story forward and tell everyone, I think that that is so important to the brand itself, the Redskins brand, and we take a lot of pride in that.’Brock Conway, grandson of Two Guns White Calf, reflects on the family history at the White House and beyond, and the ‘sacrifice our family has been involved with.’ He adds: ‘We lost a lot, and our people are in a situation where we look up to that old man’s history.’There was a lot of pride into watching that future of our grandfather, and we want to see the symbolism reinstated and come back. It was a very difficult decision, when the Redskins decided to eliminate our grandfather’s symbolism.’We had a lot of pride in that old man’s being on the helmet, and the community of Washington D.C., they came out in support of our grandfather being on that helmet. Our family, our history is closely connected to Washington D.C, and so it becomes something a little bit more than what we really actually see.’It’s history. It’s knowledge. It’s a community connection, and not only that, it’s a world connection because we do relate on the world level with our family being on that helmet. You know, it’s important that the symbolism is reinstated.’The first stage of reinstatement is opening dialogue with the franchise, which was purchased by Josh Harris in a $6 billion deal in 2023, for the first time.’We’ve tried to reach out to the team numerous times on this issue, and yet there has been no word from them,’ Morningstar says.Melinda Gopher adds: ‘We actually went to the Maryland headquarters of the Washington Commanders, and the HQ of the Commanders was like a funeral parlor. I have seen that with my own eyes. I went there. We weren’t welcomed. We weren’t acknowledged, and of course, you know we’re going to need to reopen that dialog.’And I think what this past you know four days for the family has been extremely transformative, because it’s resetting the table for maybe something better to happen for everybody. From the folks in D.C. We know there’s strong support for the team there, and we want to create a better second time around.’The family’s efforts are being supported by Attorney Denise Rosado, who points to the fact the franchise needs to continue using its trademark in order to keep it as a reason for them to come to the table for discussions. Descendants are calling for a meeting to name the new Washington stadium after Chief Two Guns White Calf when it opens at the old RFK Stadium site in 2030 Washington is required to keep using the Redskins logo and name to protect the trademark’I think this is a win-win,’ says Rosado. ‘The trademark issue is a really big thing, and that’s why I think it’s a win-win situation for the Commanders because they do still have a Redskins trademark, and they have to protect that trademark. If they stop using it altogether, they can lose it, and someone else can file a trademark and use it.’And so that’s why I think it’s really imperative, and I think that they’re going to start listening to the family, because they have no choice if they want to protect the trademark.’I know that the fans in D.C. love the Redskins. They want it back so desperately, but they’ve been also indoctrinated to believe that it was a slur, and so that’s why there was so much pushback. ‘But you have to honor the wishes of the family members. So I think it’s important. I think they’re going to actually start listening to us.’They didn’t before because they didn’t have a reason to. But now, with the protecting their trademark, I think they’re going to have to sit with us at some point.’The family, descendants of Chief Two Guns White Calf’s only daughter, Rosa White Calf-Sharp, view the fight for restoration in the NFL as just one part of their efforts to reverse what they perceive as an ongoing erasure of their history. Trump pictured at Detroit Lions vs Washington Commanders in the NFL back in 2025Per their account, their grandmother, Rosa, was forced into the boarding-school system to assimilate into American culture and later pushed to marry an older man. They say her story, like many others in their community, was pushed from view and her name was largely erased from public record.’It’s been generational at this point,’ Morningstar says. The Redskins are far from alone in dropping their native American brandings, with the issue which has torn activist groups within the community seeing sports teams and other entities around the country at all levels change names and branding.Nicole Carson (Conway), daughter of estate lead Kenneth Conway, recalls graduating from Santa Fe High School in California, where they were called the ‘Chieftains’. The school team has since been renamed but she insists: ‘I will always be a Chieftain.’It’s not just happening with the football teams; it’s happening with the schools. Anything that has any kind of Native American name attached to it or person is gone.’We’re being erased, and we want to be seen. We want to be heard, and we deserve to be heard. We are beautiful people. We come from proud people. We come from proud families. We have great teachings, and we want to see it to continue.’She insists that if they had the chance, they would have stood alongside the Washington franchise in standing up for the Redskins branding amid the backlash they faced.’It’s very sad to see that, and watching our ancestor and lineage disappear,’ she adds.’It’s you’re very proud to be who you are in any culture, but the fact that this was our land, this is where we came from, and watching it disappear, it’s very sad. And we were proud to be the Redskins.’We were proud to see our grandfather on the logo, and it would have been nice if they reached out to us because we would have supported them. We would have backed them up.’The Daily Mail has reached out to the Washington Commanders for comment.