In addition to taking a stand against the casual wearing of headdresses, Native Americans will take on the sports world Tuesday (June 10) evening. A California tribe plans to run an ad during the NBA Finals taking aim at the Washington Redskins for boasting a name that they find offensive.
According to the Washington Post, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has paid for an ad titled “Proud To Be” — which first appeared online around the Super Bowl — to air during the big game.
The ad features Native Americans listing a litany of names that they identify with, ending with the sentiment, “Native Americans call themselves many things. The one thing they don’t …” and a photo of a Redskins helmet.
The original video — which is one minute longer than what will air tonight — was created by National Congress of American Indians, who teamed up with the Oneida Indian Nation to send a letter to NFL players asking them to change the offensive name.
The tribes are not alone in their opposition; 76 news outlets and journalists publicly opposed the use of the Redskins name last year, according to Pew Research, and a group of high school journalists lobbied to stop using the term, despite it being the school’s mascot. That proposal has currently been delayed.
The ad is slated to run in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington.
It remains to be seen what effect this all will have, however, as team owner Daniel Snyder has previously told USA Today Sports, “We will never change the name of the team … It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”
Brenna Ehrlich
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