As an estimated 5,000 anti-Redskins protesters were expected to march and rally at Thursday night's NFL game in Minneapolis, they had full support of The Washington Post . Des Bieler's Oct. 24 story gave advance voice to the protesters just 30 days after his colleague Kevin Blackistone declared that opponents of the Redskins' nickname are winning the war of words.
Bieler wrote that Melanie Benjamin, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, said in a recent statement that "nothing has changed — the Washington NFL team still unapologetically uses the worst Native American racial epithet.”
The story also includes a tweet displaying a protest poster stating: "Rethink replace rename, There is no honor in racism, not your mascot."
Among the protesters expected to be in attendance were U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (Dem-Minn.), co-chair emeritus of the Congressional Native American Caucus; Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe; other state and local politicians; activist Winona LaDuke and D.C. Council Member David Grosso (I-At Large), according to the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media.
On Wednesday, Rep. McCollum spoke on the House floor and labeled the "Redskins" nickname a “racist slur.” She said, “It’s remarkable that the NFL commissioner and owners continue to sanction the racist and shameful use of the term ‘Redskin’ to describe Native Americans, and then profit from it.”
The Minnesota congresswoman said:
“We will stand proudly with our Native American brothers and sisters. And with one voice, we will be calling on the NFL to end its racist exploitation of Native Americans and do one thing: Change the mascot.”
Rep. McCollum previously compared the Washington Redskins nickname to tragic events of 150 years ago when the ancestors of living Native Americans "were hunted and murdered for profit. This was a government-funded policy of genocide. The pain of this brutal and shameful history is still with us.”
Six years ago, Councilman Grosso (I-At Large) introduced a resolution that was approved by the D.C. council calling on the Redskins to change their “racist and derogatory” name to one “that is not offensive to Native Americans or any other ethnic group.”
Bieler's story also includes a quote from David Glass, the president of the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media, who said: “For decades, the Washington NFL team has profited off their name and mascot, with no regard for its painful connection to the displacement, violence and trauma experienced by indigenous peoples for generations.”
"Use of Native American terminology and imagery has remained controversial in the sports world," Bieler wrote. "While Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has repeatedly said he will not change his team’s name, many teams at the college, high school and other levels have done so in recent years."
The Washington Post has twice conducted polls showing — to the chagrin of staff writers — that overwhelming majorities of Americans are not opposed to Indian nicknames. Therese Vargas recently moaned and groaned about it, too: "The majority of Native Americans still aren’t offended by the name of the Washington Redskins. That finding is from a recent survey and — as you probably remember, even if you’ve tried to forget — falls in line with what a Washington Post poll found three years ago and an Annenberg Public Policy Center poll found 12 years before that.
