About That Open Letter Dan Snyder Just Sent to ‘Redskins Nation’

Several months ago I wrote you about my personal reflections on our team name and on our shared Washington Redskins heritage.

A heritage marked by being the last team in the NFL to integrate and a heritage that was launched by the proudly racist and arch segregationist minstrel lover, George Preston Marshall. He is, to use the parlance of the moment, on the Mt. Rushmore of evil bastards in sports history. I’m starting to think that Snyder wants to knock him off of his perch.

I wrote then—and believe even more firmly now—that our team name captures the best of who we are and who we can be, by staying true to our history and honoring the deep and enduring values our name represents.

To be “true” to your “history,” you would need to make your coach wear feathers in his hair, lie about him being Native American and then trade away all of your black players. The “values” the name represents can be summed up in a story I heard from a young woman named Mary from the Omaha Nation who spoke about how it would be shouted when bullies would hurt her at school. Her narrative and the narratives of others actually damaged by this name never enter Snyder’s consciousness.

In that letter, I committed myself to listening and learning from all voices with a perspective about our Washington Redskins name.

This is a lie. Daniel Snyder has actually refused to meet with the Oneida Nation, the Choctaw Nation, the Red Cloud Nation, the Seminole Nation and every tribal council that has voted to call upon Snyder to change the name.

What would my resolve to honoring our legacy mean if I myself—as the owner of and a passionate believer in the Washington Redskins — didn’t stay true to my word? So over the past four months, my staff and I traveled to 26 Tribal reservations across twenty states to listen and learn first-hand about the views, attitudes, and experiences of the Tribes. We were invited into their homes, their Tribal Councils and their communities to learn more about the extraordinary daily challenges in their lives.

“I appreciated your sincerity to learn about our culture and the real-life issues we face on a daily basis,” Pueblo of Zuni Governor Arlen Quetawki told us after we toured his reservation. “I look forward to working together with you to improve the lives of Native Americans in any way possible.”

Some of my BEST FRIENDS… are, um, Pueblo of Zuni Governors.

The more I heard, the more I’ve learned, and the more I saw, the more resolved I became about helping to address the challenges that plague the Native American community. In speaking face-to-face with Native American leaders and community members, it’s plain to see they need action, not words.

In other words, people who speak out about the name are only concerned with “words,” not action. Could it be possible that the problems in the Native American community are linked to mascoting and branding them with a dictionary defined racial slur? The oldest Native American civil rights organization, the National Congress of American Indians, certainly thinks so. But, alas, Dan Snyder did not meet with them.

Yes, some tribes are doing well. And in our candid conversations, we learned that we share so much with Indian country. We find their appreciation of history, legacy, caring for their elders and providing a better future for their youth inspirational and admirable.

Sorry to veer off subject, but news that Dan Snyder and his team “cares for elders” would be news to Pat Hill, a senior citizen and lifelong fan, who Snyder and his minions drove into bankruptcy court when she could no longer afford her season tickets. They did back down after a tidal wave of disgust.

But the fact is, too many Native American communities face much harsher, much more alarming realities. They have genuine issues they truly are worried about, and our team’s name is not one of them.