Redskins not fight for fans in Minnesota
The outcry to change the Washington Redskins’ nickname extended to Minneapolis on Thursday night.
Hundreds of American Indians and their supporters rallied outside the Metrodome to demand the Washington Redskins change the team’s nickname, calling it racist and disrespectful.
Carrying flags, signs and staffs and led by American Indian Movement co-founder Clyde Bellecourt, the crowd marched to the downtown stadium to hear speakers before the Minnesota Vikings played Washington, a game the Vikings won 34-27.
Opponents call the Redskins’ nickname offensive to Native Americans. As drums beat, protesters chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, Little Red Sambo’s got to go.” Some carried signs with messages including “We are not cartoons! Respect us!” and “Racism is unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Mario McBrogan, 24, of Minneapolis, who is Cherokee, was there to watch the game and to support changing the Redskins’ name. He said the name should be changed “out of respect to every Native American.”
Other teams have dropped Indian mascots and nicknames, McBrogan said. “So I don’t understand why they [the Redskins] shouldn’t have to change their name. It’s obviously offensive to a culture,” he said.
Krystal Hedemann, 34, of St. Paul, Minn., a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, said it’s time to get rid of what she called racist names in sports.
“I want my children to grow up in a world without racist names,” Hedemann said.
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura spoke to the crowd, saying he always tried to avoid saying “Redskins” during a sports broadcast.
“This name is wrong. It’s just plain wrong,” Ventura said. He asked what would happen if a sports team in Birmingham, Ala., was named “The Slaves” and had an African-American mascot.
“What kind of outrage would there be at that? Well, this is the same thing,” Ventura said.
Redskins owner Dan Synder has called the name a “badge of honor” and said it won’t be changed.
Asked about the Redskins’ nickname at a Thursday morning news conference, current Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton called it “racist” and suggested every member of Congress should boycott the team to put pressure on its owners.
Maybe the good people of Minnesota should shift their attention to the Vikings acquiring a better quarterback.
He said it
From Yahoo! Sports columnist Dan Wetzel on Stanford’s 26-20 victory over Oregon on Thursday night:
“The final indignity Stanford football delivers to visiting teams comes in the form of two consecutive concrete staircases — twenty daunting steps each. They lead players from their locker room behind Stanford Stadium, straight up a steep hill and to a driveway where an idling bus waits. After 60 minutes against David Shaw’s Cardinal, the wrecking ball of college football, the stairs just serve to add insult to ice-packed injury.
“No. 3 Oregon showed up here Thursday with visions of 40-point offensive performances, revenge from last year’s painful defeat and a big step toward the national title that hangs like the impossible dream over a program that has risen and risen yet still finds further to go.
“They left a few hours later up those steps, distant stares and distressed bodies telling the lopsided story more effectively than the scoreboard that read: Stanford 26, Oregon 20.”