Ninety percent of Native Americans are not bothered by the nickname of the NFL's Washington franchise. Thus it's understandable that Native American high schools across the country sport nicknames like "Chiefs" and "Redskins." Those in the minority on that issue, including one of the foremost leftist rags among the media -- The Nation -- are deeply disturbed that the NFL would have the gall to schedule a game in Washington on Thanksgiving.
The Nation's sports editor and social justice warrior/snowflake, Dave Zirin, considers the first Thanksgiving game ever played in D.C. a matter of "tin-eared insensitivity" and a "sick, private joke." It shows the "true colors" of the league's owners, he alleges. The NFL should have known Thanksgiving is a difficult day for Native Americans and to have the racial slur of "R*dskins" thrown at them on a day that reminds them of genocide and displacement is an irony that rises to the level of "obscenity."
This faux anger isn't new. Newsbusters' Matt Philbin reported on this now annual freak-out a year ago. These are the same people who, by Thanksgiving, still haven't calmed down from their Columbus Day hysteria in October.
"It’s as if NFL owners, by having Washington host this game, are having their own private joke at the expense of the players, fans, and commentators who care about these issues," Zirin begs us to believe. Possibly hoping the Redskins would have the decency to apologize for hosting the game rather than play it and humiliate Native peoples, he contacted the team about this insult and was enraged by their response: "All the team would say to us at The Nation was, 'The [R*dskins] are excited to host the first ever Thanksgiving game in Washington. We appreciate our fans spending their holiday with us, and we want to create new traditions and special experiences that [R*dskins] fans and families are sure to remember.'”
Zirin took out his wrath on team owner Dan Snyder, who along with Dallas owner Jerry Jones, wanted to crack down on players protesting racism during the anthem. These are owners who, by the way, gave a lot of money to President Trump (just in case anyone cared about that):
Snyder has pledged to never change the team name with a belligerence that mirrors his man in the White House. Snyder’s refusal to meet with native leaders and his ignoring the laundry list of tribal governments and organizations who have called for it to change is also from the Trumpian textbook: creating a billionaire’s echo chamber that permits only ideas that fluff the master. The same mendacious mentality that allows Snyder to deny that “redskin” is a racial slur is also the mindset that allowed him to say in an owners’ meeting that “96 percent” of people oppose the player protests.
Zirin finally found sympathetic voices from Native Americans among the 10 percent who oppose the Redskins' name. Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and spokesman for the Change the Mascot Campaign, assuaged Zirin's white guilt by saying:
Thanksgiving has long been a difficult day for many Native Americans, because the holiday story promoted in popular culture often omits the oppression, violence, and bloodshed that our people faced when Europeans migrated to this continent. Using the holiday to additionally promote the Washington team’s derogatory name further marginalizes Native Americans—and tells people across the country that on this holiday it is perfectly acceptable to promote a painful racial slur. At a time when our political debate is so polarized and filled with invective, we should be able to agree that the NFL should not promoting a racial slur.
Suzan Shown Harjo, a Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee activist and president of the Morningstar Institute, also gave Zirin what he wanted to hear:
The owner of the Washington NFL franchise is such a hypocrite, pretending to take a knee with players regarding racism, while requiring his employees to commit acts of racism, stereotyping, and cultural appropriation against Native Peoples. The idea of him ‘hosting’ a Thanksgiving game is quite fitting, actually. It celebrates what the name, imagery, and behaviors associated with the team he owns also celebrate in history—a time when European and then American men skinned Native men, women, and children and produced them as ‘proof of Indian kill’ in order to collect bounties issued first by colonies and companies and then by states and territories.
And here the Redskins are just thinking Thursday's game is an opportunity to gain ground on the Cowboys in the NFC East.
Despite his protest, Zirin fears the "Washington team name has been erased from the discussion. Perhaps this Thanksgiving we can center it exactly where it belongs, and understand that a league that celebrates racial slurs can never be an engine for racial justice."
The NFL was never really designed to be an engine for racial justice. Its member teams just happen to give some 70 percent of their player contracts to minority athletes.
