Raven Ziegler from Minneapolis protests the name nickname of the Washington team. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Although the Washington football team’s season is over, the controversy surrounding their racist name continues.
The Oneida Indian Nation—the Native American tribe that launched a massive campaign against the team’s name this past summer—is continuing their efforts as they prepare to launch a new radio ad to coincide with Martin Luther King Day this weekend. The ad, which will air on WMAL in D.C., KDSP in Denver, and KIRO in Seattle—as well as other cities where NFL conference championship games are taking place—features narration from Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) suggesting that, if he were alive today, Martin Luther King, Jr. would probably support efforts for the team to change their name.
“We have no doubt that if Martin Luther King Jr. could speak today, he would lend his support to the current efforts of our Native American brothers and sisters,” Norton — who’s publicly supported a name change for some time — says in the ad. “We know from our history as African Americans in this country that offensive terms not only should, but can, be cast aside if we do not retreat into silence.”
Oneida Indian Nation representative Ray Halbirtter said in a press release that “as the lone congressional representative of the District of Columbia and a renowned civil rights leader, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is a uniquely powerful voice telling the NFL that it must stop the Washington team from continuing to promote a dictionary-defined racial slur.” In the time since the Oneida Indian Nation has launched their campaign, many notable voices have rallied in support of changing the team’s name, including the D.C. City Council, to numerous publications, and even President Barack Obama. “As we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King this weekend,” Halbritter said, “the NFL should honor his crusade for equality and mutual respect by finally using its power to change the Washington team’s name.”
