Redskins Name Change 2013 News: President Obama and Tight End Fred Davis In Favor of New Name for NFL Team
After about a month of radio campaigning, the Oneida Native American tribe has finally been granted a meeting with NFL officials to discuss the possibility of changing the name of the Washington Redskins. On Monday, the Oneidas hosted a symposium on the matter.
According to Ray Halbritter, representative for the Oneida Indian Nation, the meeting with the National Football League is "a move in the right direction" because "they know we're not going away."
On Sept. 9, the Oneida Nation began a campaign called "Change the Mascot." The campaign ran radio ads calling for a less offensive name in cities in which the Redskins played and plans on continuing to do so for the rest of the Redskins' season.
Monday's symposium, which was held at the Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown, featured a psychologist who examined the consequences of the word, the head of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Def. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). No NFL officals attended.
"I can think of no argument for retaining a name that directly insults Americans and especially our first Americans," Holmes Norton, a third-generation Washingtonian, said during the meeting.
NFL owners will be gathering for a meeting at the same location on Tuesday, but according to those close to the situation, they will not be discussing the Redskins' 80-year-old name.
The NFL's meeting with the Oneida Nation will be held Nov. 22 at the NFL's office, but according to two Washington Post sources, the meeting could be pushed earlier.
Dan Snyder, Washington Redskins owner, has vowed never to change the Washington Redskins name. Recently, President Barack Obama said he disagreed.
"If I were the owner of the team and I knew that there was a name of my team - even if it had a storied history - that was offending a sizeable group of people, I'd think about changing it," President Obama said in an Associated Press interview published Saturday.
Fred Davis, tight end for the Redskins, does not think changing the name would have a big impact on the team.
"I just feel like probably the history of it would change the way, you know, people look at it because damn, now they're changing it after all these years, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter," Davis said in an interview with 106.7 The Fan's Lavar and Dukes on Tuesday. "I mean, you give us a name or not, we're going to go out there with some new cool jerseys and play football."
With the President in support of consideration of a new name and the Redskins own tight end not minding, Snyder may have some things to think about.
"Whatever they do, I can't really have a say in it, and I could see how it could be kind of offensive, but you know, at the end of the day, I don't have control of that," Davis said. "All I do is put a jersey on and play football. If they call it Washington Redskins, Fredskins, I mean whatever you want to call it."