Over the weekend, President Obama weighed in on the Washington Redskins name controversy, just before the Oneida Indian Nation was to convene its “Change the Mascot” symposium in Washington to coincide with the NFL’s fall meeting.
For years, Native American groups have urged the Washington football team, and others who use some form of an Indian term for their mascot, to take the high road and, in the name of respect, dump the offensive names. But Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Redskins team, has responded infamously with a bold and unequivocal, “Never.”
Intransigent positions are common these days in Washington, but that didn’t stop President Obama from adding his two cents this past weekend.
“If I were the owner of the team and I knew that there was a name of my team — even if it had a storied history — that was offending a sizable group of people, I’d think about changing it,” Obama said in an interview published by the Associated Press on Saturday.
He could have simply passed on the question as too controversial. That has always been the Obama way when it comes to most race issues. It’s much easier for the first African-American president to stay above it all.
But he didn’t on this one. And just one utterance was no small thing, as Native American advocates took note. In a statement released over the weekend, the tribe saw the president’s words as a momentum booster.
“As the first sitting president to speak out against the Washington team name, President Obama’s comments are truly historic,” said Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter. “The use of such an offensive term has negative consequences for the Native American community when it comes to issues of self-identity and imagery. We will continue to push our cause because this is about doing right by our children, who are especially impressionable.” The Oneida Nation has mounted an all-out ad campaign to get a name change (http://www.changethemascot.org).
