Redskins owner shamed during protest of name ahead of Vikings game
As many as 5,000 marched against the Washington Redskins name in Minneapolis, Nov 1, 2014.
by RANDY FURST and DEE DEPASS , Star Tribune, November 2, 2014
Thousands of protesters from several states turned out Sunday morning near where the Minnesota Vikings host the Washington Redskins in what they hope is the biggest demonstration ever against the visting team’s nickname.
The marchers met on the University of Minnesota’s Northrop Plaza to hear Indian prayers and then headed to the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium at 10 a.m. for a rally and a lineup of speakers before the noon kickoff.
By 10:30 a.m., participants were gathered in a wide swath of lawn to the south of the stadium, holding signs and hearing speakers. There have been no incidents nor any arrests.
This is the fourth large local protest against the use of Indian imagery in pro sports since the Twins played the Atlanta Braves in the World Series in 1991. Organizers estimated a turnout Sunday morning of 5,000, while police put the number at closer to 3,200.
Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges led the throng in a chant of “Change the Name.”
Hodges then said to the gathering, “I have a message to the Washington team: The clock is ticking on your name … it is more than an insult. It’s hate.”
Longtime Twin Cities activist Clyde Bellecourt condemned Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, telling the crowd that the name represents the scalping of Indians, which were then sold for money.
“We are standing up against this monster team that is here today and to this Jewish person who should know a little bit about genocide,” Bellecourt said in a reference to the Holocaust during WWII that left 6 million Jews dead under Nazi Germany.
“He should know a little bit about genocide,” Bellecourt reiterated, “the fact that Jewish people are still here today. There have been millions of people erased from the face of the Earth, scalped. Scalped! Their scalps taken to be sold for bounty. The blood running down the children’s faces. There were whole tribes that were totally decimated.”
Carla and Thomas Cheyenne and their son, Jeremy, 7, traveled from Pine Ridge, S.D. “I’m here on behalf of my nation, the Oglala Lakota Nation, and on behalf of my children so this fascist name, this slur will not carry on to their adult life.”
Other participants came from Kentucky, Indiana, North Dakota, Montana and Oklahoma.
Vikings fan and Chippewa tribal member Nick Hjelden arrived at the stadium at 10:30 a.m., just in time to cross paths with the protesters. He proudly wore a Vikings Jersey.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Hjelden, who came to the game from North Dakota. “I don’t find it [the name] to be offensive. Everyone finds anything offensive these days. You could say the Vikings name is offensive because they were known for their raping and pillaging. It could give the Scandinavians a bad name. So the Indian names. No. They’re not offensive.”
Allene Ross, among the many American Indians on the plaza, said her grandmother and great-grandmother marched for a woman’s right to vote many years ago.
“Our society changes because of people marching, because of people standing up,” Ross said.
Despite national calls for a renaming, Snyder shows no signs of retiring the Redskins logo. He has adamantly refused to change the team’s name, which he contends honors American Indians, despite a letter signed by half the U.S. Senate and criticism by President Obama, along with opposition from a host of black, Hispanic and other national civil rights organizations.
In Minnesota, with a significant Indian population and a history of activism, opposition has proved particularly persistent and become part of the public debate.
When the Buffalo Bills played Washington in the only Super Bowl hosted in Minnesota, in January 1992, 3,000 demonstrators surprised the crowds of celebrities who arrived at the Metrodome. Andy Rooney, the late curmudgeon commentator for CBS’ “60 Minutes,” expressed bewilderment at the protest, asking a reporter what the fuss was all about.
When Washington returned for a Monday night football game last November, 700 demonstrators took to the street.
On Tuesday, the Hennepin County Board passed a resolution calling for the Washington franchise to change its nickname to one “that is not racist and derogatory,” Commissioner Peter McLaughlin said in a statement.
Last week, the city of Minneapolis said it lacked the legal standing to forbid the team from using the nickname when it comes to town.
The University of Minnesota has stated its own objections to the nickname but said it is limited by its contract with the Vikings, who are playing at TCF Bank Stadium while their new stadium is being built.
Lester Bagley, the Minnesota Vikings executive vice president of public affairs and stadium development, said the team is “sensitive to the issue” and was working to set up a meeting between the protest leaders and the National Football League.
Asked for the team’s views about the controversy over the nickname, Tony Wyllie, Washington’s senior vice president of communications, said in an e-mail, “We are traveling to Minneapolis to try and win a football game, and that is the foremost issue on our mind.
“Whatever the politics going on outside the stadium will happen outside the stadium.”
Posted on November 2, 2014, in Decolonization and tagged Redskins, Washington Redskins. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Warrior Publications 
Simple solution; Have the Anishinabe declare “Red Skins” ain’t patentable. Once this occurs the football team will lack any authority to protect “bootleg” products therefore must change the name to some other which is copyrightable.