Native American Guardians Association

Last updated
Native American Guardians Association
AbbreviationNAGA
FormationApril 6, 2017;6 years ago (2017-04-06) [1]
FoundersMark Yellowhorse Beasley
Eunice Davidson
Andre Billeaudeaux
William Brotherton
Walt Brown [1]
Founded at Annandale, Virginia
Type 501(c)(3) Corporation
EIN 82-1240491 [2]
Legal statusCharity
PurposeNative American History and Cultural Preservation
Headquarters Devils Lake, North Dakota
Region served
United States
Official language
English
President
Eunice Davidson
Vice-President
Crystal Tso
Treasurer
David Davidson
Secretary
Ila McKay
Jonathan Tso, David Finkenbinder, Demetrius Maraz, Jeffrey Charley
Website www.nagaeducation.org
Source: ProPublica [2]

The Native American Guardians Association (NAGA) is an American Indian grassroots movement which was founded in June 2017 as a non-profit with the stated purpose of promoting Native American History and Preservation. [2] Representatives of NAGA have primarily been active in debates over Native American mascots, opposing their removal both by providing non-Native opponents of change with talking points [3] or by members giving testimony in support of mascot retention. [4]

Contents

Support for the Washington Redskins

Sports Illustrated (SI) investigated the various pro-Redskins organizations that spoke or wrote on behalf of Daniel Snyder in court, and found that most were receiving multi-thousand dollar donations from the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation (WROAF), which was founded by Snyder. Specifically, SI found that NAGA received $68,360 from WROAF shortly before an amicus curiae the group made in favor of retaining the Redskins name went public. The report stated that "direct ties between NAGA and Snyder’s team are hard to find, but indirect ties are rampant" citing executive board member Mark Yancy's lack of Native American blood. [5] NAGA says it is funded through donations from private donors, and the group does not disclose who made donations so a connection to WROAF would be obscured. Persons interviewed by SI called encounters with the group "disturbing" as they have "no ties to the communities they tried to lobby, but also because some [members] are aggressive." [6]

In July 2023 a Washington Commanders fan started a Change.org petition asking that the team name be changed back to Redskins. [7] Subsequently, news reports began attributing the petition to NAGA, [8] followed by reports that NAGA would start a boycott similar to that affecting Anheuser-Busch. [9] [10] This prompted a response from new Commanders president Jason Wright stating that a change back to the Redskins "is not being considered. Period" as well as the Commanders issuing a statement that Bud Light is the official beer of the team. [11] [12] The National Congress of American Indians stated that it is encouraged by Wright's statement reflecting the continued effort to leave the past behind. [13] NAGA has filed a suit in the U.S. District Court of North Dakota against the Commanders for defamation due to their employees calling NAGA a fake group; and for conspiring to violate NAGA's civil rights. [14] [15]

High school mascots

Skowhegan High School

In February 2019, the Skowhegan Area High School board voted to retire its mascot, the "Indians", in favor of the "River Hawks", being the last school in Maine with a Native American themed mascot.

Prior to the vote, NAGA contacted one of the School Board members opposed to the name change, Jennifer Poirir, offering its assistance. A private, invitation-only event was scheduled in February 2019 for only those supporting keeping the name. Maulian Dana, a tribal ambassador for the Penobscot Nation and supporter of changing the name, called it a "racist echo chamber." On Facebook, Sherri Mitchell, an indigenous-rights attorney in Maine, called NAGA "fake Indians" being paid by the Washington Football Team to promote native mascots. However, the leadership of NAGA includes several members of Native American tribes. [16]

Local members of the Wabanaki Confederacy protested the presentations that NAGA gave to the school board, stating that the presence of Indians from other tribes breaks an "oral tradition" of Native Americans only "speak[ing] for your own nation." [4] The Wabanaki protesters also said that NAGA had "an aggressive reputation" and that "they have no right to be here." [17]

Killingly High School

In December 2019, the board of education of Killingly High School in Connecticut retired their mascot, the Redman, citing concerns that it was racist and offensive to Native Americans. In the school board election of 2020 a Republican majority was elected and subsequently voted 5–4 along party lines to reinstate the mascot. Several members closed their statements with the motto of NAGA, "Educate, not eradicate," but critics said that organization is a fringe group which does not represent the views of most Native Americans. Two members of the youth council of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, 30 miles away from Killingly, told the board “Redmen” is a slur that does not honor them. [3]

Colorado

In 2021, the State of Colorado passed a law banning the use of references to Native Americans in any way as a mascot for any school, public, private, or charter, unless the school had entered an agreement with a specific Native American tribe prior to the laws passing. NAGA sued the state of Colorado and would be represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation. [18]

A member of the governor's commission, Darius Smith (Navajo), says that NAGA does not have credibility or represent the way many American Indians feel about the issue. [19] In May 2022, the judge dismissed the suit on the basis of NAGA having failed to establish standing to bring the case. [20]

Arizona

Eric Descheenie (Navajo) was asked in 2021 if he would favor a bill that would be similar to those in Nevada and Colorado banning Native mascots in schools. In 2018, as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives, Descheenie had introduced a bill to outlaw the display of team names that tribes deemed disparaging in publicly funded facilities, but that bill was never assigned to a committee, and stated that such legislation had no chance in the Republican-dominated Arizona legislature in 2021. Members of NAGA were also asked about legislation eliminating mascots, and replied that it is an erasure of Native American culture and legacy within the state. Descheenie replied that Native culture is not substantiated by representation in contemporary society such as mascots, but by history that precedes the existence of the United States. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Commanders</span> American football team based in the Washington, DC, area

The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Commanders Field in Landover, Maryland; its headquarters and training facility are in Ashburn, Virginia. The team has played more than 1,000 games and is one of only five in the NFL with more than 600 total wins. Washington was among the first NFL franchises with a fight song: "Hail to the Commanders", played by their marching band after every touchdown scored by the team at home. The franchise is owned by a group headed by Josh Harris, who acquired the team from Daniel Snyder for $6.05 billion in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Lewis College</span> Public liberal arts college in Durango, Colorado, U.S.

Fort Lewis College is a public liberal arts college in Durango, Colorado. Because of its unique origins as a military fort turned Indian boarding school turned state public school, FLC follows a 1911 mandate to give qualified Native Americans a tuition-free education and awards approximately 16% of the baccalaureate degrees earned by Native American students in the nation. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Education designated FLC one of six Native American-serving, non-tribal colleges.

Redskin is a slang term for Native Americans in the United States and First Nations in Canada. The term redskin underwent pejoration through the 19th to early 20th centuries and in contemporary dictionaries of American English, it is labeled as offensive, disparaging, or insulting. Although the term has almost disappeared from contemporary use, it remains as the name of many sports teams. The most prominent was the Washington NFL team. After decades of resistance to change by the owners, management, and fans, major sponsors responded to calls to end systemic racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by advocating a name change. The new name Washington Commanders was announced on February 2, 2022. While the usage by other teams has been declining steadily, 37 high schools in the United States continue to be Redskins. School administrators and alumni assert that their use of the name is honoring their local tradition and not insulting to Native Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Snyder</span> American businessman (born 1964)

Daniel Marc Snyder is an American businessman who formerly owned the Washington Commanders, an American football franchise belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He bought the team, then known as the Redskins, from the estate of Jack Kent Cooke in 1999. Snyder is widely considered to be one of the worst owners in the history of professional sports, with the team managing only two playoffs wins in six appearances as well as fostering a toxic workplace culture, committing financial improprieties, and allegations of sexual misconduct.

Manteo High School is one of ten schools located in Dare County, North Carolina. The high school was named after the Native American chief Manteo, who assisted the Roanoke Colony. Renovations to the school were completed in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manhasset Secondary School</span> Public school in Manhasset, Nassau County, New York, United States

Manhasset Secondary School, also referred to as Manhasset Junior/Senior High School or simply Manhasset High School, is a six-year comprehensive public middle and high school in Manhasset, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. The 7–12 school is the only secondary school in the Manhasset Union Free School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native American mascot controversy</span> Controversy regarding the use of Indigenous names and images by sports teams

Since the 1960s, the issue of Native American and First Nations names and images being used by sports teams as mascots has been the subject of increasing public controversy in the United States and Canada. This has been a period of rising Indigenous civil rights movements, and Native Americans and their supporters object to the use of images and names in a manner and context they consider derogatory. They have conducted numerous protests and tried to educate the public on this issue.

The Washington Redhawks was a culture jam created by a group of Native Americans to draw attention to the Washington Redskins name controversy. In 2020, the team retired the Redskins branding amidst the removal of many names and images as part of the George Floyd protests. The football team was renamed the Washington Commanders in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Redskins name controversy</span> Controversy involving the name and logo of the Washington Redskins NFL team

The Washington Redskins name controversy involved the name and logo previously used by the Washington Commanders, a National Football League (NFL) franchise located in the Washington metropolitan area. In the 1960s, the team's longtime name—the Redskins—and the associated logo began to draw criticism from Native American groups and individuals. The topic, part of the larger Native American mascot controversy, began receiving widespread public attention in the 1990s. In 2020, the team responded to economic pressure in the wake of the George Floyd protests by retiring the name and logo. The team called itself the "Washington Football Team" before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.

The Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation was a nonprofit organization started by Daniel Snyder, controlling owner of the Washington Redskins football team. It was formed in 2014 under a climate of controversy around the name of the team, which Native American organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians consider offensive. According to a letter from Snyder, it "will address the urgent challenges plaguing Indian country based on what tribal leaders tell us they need most." In the letter to season ticket holders, announcing the Foundation, Snyder stated that he and other team representatives had visited 26 reservations in twenty states to "listen and learn first-hand about the views, attitudes, and experiences of the Tribes". The letter quotes Pueblo of Zuni Governor Arlen Quetawki, saying "I appreciated your sincerity to learn about our culture and the real life issues we face on a daily basis". Torrez-Martinez of Desert Cahuilla was quoted in the letter as saying, "There are Native Americans everywhere that 100 percent support the Redskins". Snyder also used his letter to cite instances of support for the team name by other Native Americans during his visits.

The Washington Redskins trademark dispute was a legal effort by Native Americans to define the term "redskin" to be an offensive and pejorative racial slur to deprive the owners of the NFL's Washington Redskins of the ability to maintain federal trademark protection for the name. These efforts had primarily been carried forward in two cases brought before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). While prevailing in the most recent case in which the trademarks were cancelled, petitioners withdrew for further litigation now that the legal issue has become moot due to a decision in another case which found the relevant portion of the trademark law to be an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of speech.

Sports teams named Redskins are part of the larger controversy regarding the use of Native American names, images and symbols by non-native sports teams. Teams of this name have received particular public attention because the term redskin is now generally regarded as disparaging and offensive.

During the years of increasing awareness of the Washington Redskins name controversy, public opinion polls were part of the discussion about whether Native Americans found the term redskin insulting. Other polls gauged how the general public viewed the controversy.

The use of terms and images referring to Native Americans/First Nations as the name or mascot for a sports team is a topic of public controversy in the United States and in Canada, arising as part of the Native American/First Nations civil rights movements. The retirement of the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians has tipped public opinion in favor of eliminating Native mascots by public school, more states considering or passing legislation to do so, heeding tribal leaders who have advocating for change for decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Blackhawks name and logo controversy</span> US pro hockey team racism controversy

The Chicago Blackhawks name and logo controversy refers to the controversy surrounding the name and logo of the Chicago Blackhawks, a National Hockey League (NHL) ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. The use of terms and images referring to Native Americans/First Nations as the name or mascot for a sports team without permissions from or consultations with local Indigenous communities is a topic of public controversy in the United States and Canada. Since the 1960s, as part of the indigenous civil rights movements, there have been a number of protests and other actions by Native Americans and their supporters targeting the more prominent use of such names and images by professional franchises such as the Cleveland Guardians formerly known as the "Indians" of Major League Baseball (MLB) that was officially discontinued in 2016; the Washington Commanders formerly known as the "Redskins" of the National Football League (NFL), the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs and MLB's Atlanta Braves, the latter two attracting criticism of "the tomahawk chop" often performed by their fans. Like other teams with tribal mascots, there are calls from Indigenous activists and organizations to change the Blackhawks' name and logo and eliminate tribal mascots and imagery throughout sports. In contrast to generic names used by other teams, Blackhawks refers to a World War I-era U.S. Army division which was named for prominent Illinois-based Native American chief Black Hawk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maulian Bryant</span> Native American Tribal Ambassador

Maulian Bryant is the first individual to hold the position of the Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador. Chief Kirk Francis appointed her in September 2017.

The Kansas City Chiefs is one of the professional sports teams involved in the controversy regarding the use of Native American names and imagery, but received less attention than other teams until 2013 when fan behavior at games, including stereotypical headdresses, face paint, performing a "war chant" and tomahawk chop became more publicly known. Protests by change advocates intensified following the name changes of the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians. In addition, the Chiefs have been highly visible due to their participation in the Super Bowl in the 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023 seasons and widespread media coverage. Native American groups demonstrated outside the stadium hosting Super Bowl LVII.

References

  1. 1 2 "State Corporation Commission Clerk's Information System". Virginia - SCC. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  2. 1 2 3 "Nonprofit Explorer: Research Tax-Exempt Organizations". ProPublica. 9 May 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Fawcett, Eliza (12 December 2019). "In heated debate over mascot, Killingly board of education rescinds "Red Hawks," but fails in bid to restore "Redmen" name" . Hartford Courant . Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  4. 1 2 Ohm, Rachel (24 February 2019). "National group defends 'Indians' name, meets with Skowhegan supporters". centralmaine.com. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  5. ↑ Phillips, Michael (28 July 2014). "Native American backing team name is VIP at practice" . Richmond Times-Dispatch . Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  6. ↑ Vrentas, Jenny; Rosenberg, Michael (July 8, 2020). "Dan Snyder Started a Foundation to Support Native Americans. Has It Abandoned Its Mission?". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  7. ↑ Salvador, Joseph (2023-08-31). "Joe Theismann Explains Why He Thinks Josh Harris Will Change Commanders' Name". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  8. ↑ "Native American Group Want Commanders To Restore Redskins Name". Chicago Star Media. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  9. ↑ WALKER, JACKSON (7 August 2023). "Native American group threatens boycott 'similar to Anheuser Busch' if Commanders ignore name petition". WJLA-TV . Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  10. ↑ WALKER, JACKSON (15 August 2023). "Native American group promising Anheuser Busch-style boycott of Commanders backs Cleveland Guardians name change". KEYE-TV . Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  11. ↑ WALKER, JACKSON (17 August 2023). "Commanders embrace Bud Light as 'official beer partner' with boycott looming over name change". The National Desk . Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  12. ↑ WALKER, JACKSON (30 August 2023). "Commanders president shuts down pushes for name reversal: 'It is not being considered. Period.'". WBMA-LD . Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  13. ↑ "NCAI Encouraged by Washington Commanders' Decision to Leave the Past Behind" . Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  14. ↑ Monk, Jim (25 September 2023). "North Dakota group sues NFL's Washington Commanders for dropping 'Redskins' name". KVRR . Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  15. ↑ WALKER, JACKSON (25 September 2023). "EXCLUSIVE: Washington Commanders sued by Native American organization trying to restore old team name". KECI . Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  16. ↑ Ohm, Rachel (20 February 2019). "Group supporting Skowhegan Indians name to speak at private event". Portland Press Herald. p. B2. ProQuest   2183486766.
  17. ↑ "Visitors defend 'Indians' nickname in Skowhegan". Portland Press Herald . 25 February 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  18. ↑ Goodland, Marianne (13 November 2021). "Lawsuit reveals tribal rift over American Indian mascots". The Gazette . Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  19. ↑ Saja Hindi (November 3, 2021). "Group sues Colorado over ban on Native American school mascots". The Denver Post . Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  20. ↑ Westney, Andrew (May 6, 2022). "Colorado Judge Nixes Suit Over Native School Mascot Ban" . Law360 .
  21. ↑ Greenstein, Harry. "Legislation to change Native American team names lacks momentum in Arizona". Navajo-Hopi Observer . Retrieved 20 August 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.