People's March and Rally against Racist names in sports. 11/2/2014 Minneapolis

[annm4peace]

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The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe are airing the 30-second ad entitled “Proud to Be” just before the 12 p.m. CST kick-off on the Twin Cities FOX affiliate, FOX 9 (KMSP-TV). The two Minnesota tribes worked together to purchase the air time to display the ad to the public for the first time during an NFL game involving the Washington franchise.


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When football fans arrive Sunday at University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium for the Minnesota Vikings game against the franchise from Washington, D.C., they'll likely see just as much passion outside its gates.

Anyone going to the stadium will pass Tribal Nations Plaza, where 18-foot high monuments honor each of Minnesota's 11 Indian tribes. Before the game, Native Americans and others hope to use the monuments as a backdrop to their protest against the Washington team's nickname.

With a $1 billion stadium still under construction across the river in downtown Minneapolis, the Vikings are playing all their home games this season and next at TCF Bank Stadium. That set up the inevitable friction over the visiting team's name.

In Minnesota, a state with more than 100,000 people of Native American ancestry, many say the term "Redskins" is a racial slur that insults and trivializes their culture. Outraged that the D.C. team has refused to drop the name, Indian protest leaders plan the largest demonstration ever against it.

"To come here, they're seeing the power of our voices here in this place," said Vanessa Goodthunder, a member of the university's American Indian Student Cultural Center.

Goodthunder, 20, opposes Native American team names and mascots in general, but she said the Washington team's moniker, which dictionaries define as a slur, is particularly nasty.

For Goodthunder, a member of the Lower Sioux Indian Community in southwest Minnesota — one of four Dakota tribes in the state — the name is a painful reminder. A century and a half ago, she said, the federal government used the word "Redskin" in advertisements offering bounties for killing her ancestors.

"As a Dakota person, that's definitely not what I'd like to be called, because we have never called ourselves that," she said.


The University of Minnesota's Tribal Nations Plaza. Matt Sepic / MPR News
Native American groups have demonstrated at Washington games for years. But Goodthunder said Sunday's protest will be much larger. Not only will there be students, but organizers say they're expecting as many as 5,000 American Indians from across the country.

Protestors had hoped the team's presence at a university would give them leverage.

At a recent news conference, Larry Leventhal, an attorney with the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media, said the school's stadium use contract with the Vikings clearly prohibits racist nicknames and mascots on campus.

"It says the Vikings shall not take any action or use any language in its use of the facilities that might reasonably be expected to offend contemporary community standards or might degrade any class or group of people," he said.

University officials agree the D.C. team's name is offensive. They've sponsored discussions, a film screening and an art exhibit all aimed at driving home that point.

But University of Minnesota General Counsel Bill Donohue has said there's nothing the university can legally do. The part of the contract that bans denigrating language in the stadium only applies to advertising and sponsorships, Donohue said in a recent interview.

"We don't control their speech. We've had Condoleezza Rice on campus. We've had Bill Clinton on campus. We've had things that I'm sure offend tons of people," Donohue said. "We don't attempt to control their speech while they're on our campus."

Dan Snyder, the owner of Washington D.C.'s NFL franchise continues to face heavy criticism.

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[annm4peace]

1. Washington bribed Native americans to support Redskins name

from a friend

"Just arrived in Minneapolis for the protest! Lucky us- we picked the Sheraton West -Minnetonka, the host hotel of the Redskin sponsored native supporters! Welcome to the native people - All the way from Spearfish, SD. They are having a reception right now with players! We just had to ask - WHY?? Several smoking outside answered 'it was a free trip man, We are really Viking fans" Lmao- what some people will do for free stuff. Come on down - free party just started!"