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Washington’s Football Team Would Like You to Know That It Just Doesn’t Give a Shit

Mother Jones

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Here are three things the United States has:

1. An indefensible history of slaughtering Native Americans.

2. A holiday called Thanksgiving wherein we celebrate some of our earliest slaughterers, albeit not for their slaughtering.

3. A capital, Washington DC.

The football team in Washington DC has an offensive, racist name; a slur against Native Americans.

This Thanksgiving—the holiday that for many represents “hundreds of years of genocide and oppression against Native Americans”—that football team—the one with the awful racist name offensive to Native Americans—sent out the following tweet.

Dan Snyder: Just as the pilgrims intended.

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Washington’s Football Team Would Like You to Know That It Just Doesn’t Give a Shit

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6 Dumb Things Dan Snyder Has Said About the Name of His Football Team

Mother Jones

A year ago, I explained Mother Jones‘ decision to stop using the name of Washington, DC’s pro football team, both online and in print. We joined Slate and The New Republic in doing so, and since then, a number of other news organizations and journalists have followed suit.

Even as more people have spoken out against the team’s derogatory moniker—everyone from President Obama to Gene Simmons—owner Dan Snyder hasn’t given an inch, repeatedly arguing that it’s simply not offensive. This week he even went on a mini media tour, giving radio and TV interviews as NFL training camps kicked into gear.

In the meantime, Snyder has doubled down on his commitment to keeping the R-word. Here’s a list of some of the dumbest things he’s said about it in the last year (as well as some additional reading, for context):

In an October letter to season ticket holders: “The name was never a label. It was, and continues to be, a badge of honor…It is a symbol of everything we stand for: strength, courage, pride, and respect—the same values we know guide Native Americans and which are embedded throughout their rich history as the original Americans.”
(See also: “Often Contemptuous” and “Usually Offensive”: 120 Years of Defining “Redskin”)

In a March letter to season ticket holders, following months of criticism (including this Super Bowl ad): “I’ve been encouraged by the thousands of fans across the country who support keeping the Redskins tradition alive. Most—by overwhelming majorities—find our name to be rooted in pride for our shared heritage and values.”
(See also: “Dan Snyder to Native Americans: We’re Cool, Right? Native Americans to Dan Snyder: Redacted”)

Following an April ceremony at a Virginia high school: “We understand the issues out there, and we’re not an issue. The real issues are real-life issues, real-life needs, and I think it’s time that people focus on reality.”
(See also: “Washington NFL Team’s New Native American Foundation Is Already Off to a Great Start”)

In a Monday interview with former Washington player Chris Cooley on ESPN 980, the radio station Snyder owns: “It’s sort of fun to talk about the name of our football team because it gets some attention for some of the people that write about it, that need clicks. But the reality is no one ever talks about what’s going on on reservations.”
(See also: “Outrage in Indian Country As Redskins Owner Announces Foundation”)

More from the Cooley interview: “It’s honor, it’s respect, it’s pride, and I think that every player here sees it, feels it. Every alumni feels it. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s a historical thing. This is a very historical franchise…I think it would be nice if, and forget the media from that perspective, but really focus on the fact that—the facts, the history, the truth, the tradition.”
(See also: “Former Redskins Player Jason Taylor Says Redskins Name Is Offensive”)

In a Tuesday interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines: “A Redskin is a football player. A Redskin is our fans. The Washington Redskins fan base represents honor, represents respect, represents pride. Hopefully winning. And, and, it, it’s a positive. Taken out of context, you can take things out of context all over the place. But in this particular case, it is what it is. It’s very obvious…We sing ‘Hail to the Redskins.’ We don’t say hurt anybody. We say, ‘Hail to the Redskins. Braves on the warpath. Fight for old DC.’ We only sing it when we score touchdowns. That’s the problem, because last season we didn’t sing it quite enough as we would’ve liked to.”
(See also: “Timeline: A Century of Racist Sports Team Names”)

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6 Dumb Things Dan Snyder Has Said About the Name of His Football Team

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Redskins Hall of Famers Say Team Name is Probably Offensive, But Shouldn’t Change

Image: Keith Allison

This week, two Washington Redskins hall of famers added their voices to the chorus arguing that the team should change their name. Sort of.

Darrel Green and Art Monk both appeared on the local radio station WTOP, and were asked what they thought of current Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s assertion that he would never change the name. Monk said, “[If] Native Americans feel like Redskins or the Chiefs or [another] name is offensive to them, then who are we to say to them ‘No, it’s not’?” He also said that the name change should be “seriously considered.” Green agreed, saying “It deserves and warrants conversation because somebody is saying, ‘Hey, this offends me.’”

The Washington Redskins have been fielding questions about their name, which refers to the way colonial Americans described Native Americans, for a long time now. As Wikipedia points out, “slang identifiers for ethnic groups based upon physical characteristics, including skin color, are almost universally slurs, or derogatory, emphasizing the difference between the speaker and the target.” And many Native Americans have called for the team to change their name out of respect for their culture and history.

But now Green, at least, has backed off from saying that the team should change the name. He told another radio station later: “In no way I want to see the Redskins change their name. So that just makes that clear. And I’ll speak for Art, there’s no way he wants it, and I guarantee he didn’t say it, and I know I didn’t say it.”

Greg Howard at Deadspin summarizes Green’s argument:

He just thinks we should talk about it, and then decide not to. … Snyder won’t, though, because he’s rich and powerful and racist. And sadly, some of the only ones capable of challenging him, who can make a difference, are his players. But when they, like Green, scamper in line with the racist owner of the league’s most historically racist franchise, it gives off the impression that a racial slur as a team name is OK, acceptable, a source of pride, even when we all know it’s not.

In May, ten members of Congress sent letters to every NFL team asking them to push for a change of name. Snyder’s response was “the Redskins will never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER. You can put that in capital letters.” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell contested the claim that the name was offensive, saying that instead it was “a unifying force that stands for strength, courage, pride and respect.”

Actual Native Americans disagree. Amanda Blackhorse, of the Navajo Nation, writes in the Huffington Post:

I find the casual use of the term r*dsk*ns disparaging, racist, and hateful. The use of the name and symbols used by the Washington football team perpetuate stereotypes of Native American people and it disgusts me to know that the Washington NFL team uses a racial slur for its name. If you were to refer to a Native American, would you call him or her a “redskin?” Of course not, just as you would not refer to an African-American as the n-word, or refer to Jew as a “kike” or a Mexican as a “wet-back” or an Asian-American as a “gook,” unless you’re a racist.

She points out that it doesn’t really matter that the Washington Redskins find the name acceptable and honorable, if those who they are referring to do not. Blackhorse and four other Native Americans have filed a petition with the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) arguing that the Redskins name violates the section of trademark law that says that trademarks that “disparage” people or bring them into “contempt or disrepute” isn’t eligible for registration.

It remains to be seen whether the addition and then retraction of Green and Monk changes the tone of the debate. Snyder is unwilling to bend, and the team’s lawyers fought Blackhorse’s petition.

More from Smithsonian.com:

The Man Who Coined the Word ‘Sack’ in Football Dies at 74
New Study: NFL Players May Be More Likely to Die of Degenerative Brain Diseases

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Redskins Hall of Famers Say Team Name is Probably Offensive, But Shouldn’t Change

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