A demonstration and a negative advertisement greets the Washington Redskins as Robert Griffin III returns from injury to lead them against the Minnesota Vikings this weekend at their temporary home at the University of Minnesota.
Claiming that the use of the word “Redskins,” is hurtful to Native Americans, the owner of a Minneapolis-based advertising company has released a commercial on YouTube comparing the word to other racial and ethnic slurs.
Chad Germann, owner of Red Circle Ad Agency, belongs to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, which produced the video in conjunction with the National Coalition Against Racism. Germann stated that he made the ad because he was “tired of people avoiding what I think is the real issue. There is no word in the American lexicon that is more hurtful to the Native American.”
The video states that the other slurs are so profane that they have been banned for use by television.
The ad is part of an ongoing crusade to persuade the Washington Redskins from using the word in their name and to eliminate the teams “Redskin” mascot. The ad ends with the statement that “There Is No Honor in Racism” with the twitter hashtag #changethemascot.
The new video ad comes as a precursor to a Sunday protest rally, which the local ABC affiliate predicts will attract thousands, to be held at the temporary home for the Minnesota Vikings home games, the University of Minnesota’s TCF Stadium. The Redskins play the Vikings on Sunday.
As Breitbart News reported in August, the University has pressured the host Vikings to eliminate the use of the “Redskins” name from “promotional and game date materials.” Moreover, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum wrote in a letter to Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf in June asking him to denounce the “Redskins” name. University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler was copied on the letter. McCollum referred to the name as “that hateful slur” and urged Wilf to disassociate himself from it, as NFL teams share the profits from sales of their licensed merchandise.
USA Today reported that the Vikings are feeling the heat to join in the “anti-Redskins movement” now that they play on a university campus in a state where 100,000 Native Americans live and in a stadium that includes a plaza honoring Minnesota’s 11 federally-recognized tribes.
The University of Minnesota American Indian Student Cultural Center says “Redskins” perpetuates cultural stereotypes.
“This is on our turf,” says Vanessa Goodthunder, the center’s community outreach coordinator. “This is a place where respect matters.”
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