Raven Ziegler from Minneapolis protests the name nickname of the Washington team. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
The Original Americans Foundation—Dan Snyder’s latest publicity stunt that aims to provide funding and resources for Native American communities—isn’t even a week old and it’s already taking heat for hiring a CEO that has allegedly made some ethically questionable actions in the past.
USA Today reports that Gary Edwards, a Cherokee Indian and retired member of the Secret Service who was hired by Snyder to head the Original Americans Foundation, is also the head of another Native American foundation that reportedly provided “no benefit” when the federal government provided it with nearly $1 million in federal funds to help Native American communities.
According to the 2012 government report, Edwards’ organization, the National Native American Law Enforcement Association, was awarded nearly $1 million dollars in a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order “help recruit critically needed law enforcement officers to work in Indian Country,” but it almost all completely went to waste. From USA Today:
The government “received no benefit when they awarded a recruitment services contract to NNALEA, thus wasting almost $1 million,” the report states.
The report says the NNALEA provided the government with 748 applications, “none of which were of use to” the Office of Justice Services, the report states.
The government reviewed 514 of the applications for various requirements. Of those, the report states that 104 of the applicants were too old or too young.
Ray Halbritter, a spokesperson with the Oneida Indian Nation—a Native American tribe leading the Change the Name campaign—responded to these latest revelations, saying in a statement that “this is part of a disturbing, but hardly surprising pattern of behavior by team owner Dan Snyder and his team.”
He went on to say that “Mr. Snyder first insisted that using a dictionary defined racial slur is a way to honor Native Americans. He then hired a former associate of notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who helped bilk Native Americans, and selected a person who financially harmed Native Americans to run a foundation to defend his team’s name. These aren’t accidents, but part of a systematic campaign to denigrate Native Americans by a team owner who will stop at nothing to keep the team’s offensive name.”
However, Edwards responded to the allegations in a statement provided by the Washington football team, saying that “NNALEA believes it met and exceeded all of its obligations under the contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services, and subsequently was paid after the contract was completed.”
