Abbreviation | NAGA |
---|---|
Formation | April 6, 2017 [1] |
Founders | Mark 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 status | Charity |
Purpose | Native 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 |
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]
This article or section appears to contradict itself.(October 2023) |
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] In September 2023 NAGA 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] The judge dismissed the case in April, 2024 based upon lack of jurisdiction, the defendant not being located in or doing business in the state. [16]
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. [17]
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." [18]
In June 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 subsequent election that November, a Republican majority was elected and subsequently voted 5–4 to reinstate the mascot (one Republican voted with the Democrats against the measure). Several members closed their statements with the motto of NAGA, "Education, not eradication." However, critics said that the organization is a fringe group that 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]
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. [19]
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. [20] In May 2022, the judge dismissed the suit on the basis of NAGA having failed to establish standing to bring the case. [21]
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. [22]
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 Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland; its headquarters and training facility are in Ashburn, Virginia. The Commanders have played more than 1,300 games and have won more than 600. Washington was among the first NFL franchises with a fight song, "Hail to the Commanders", which is played by their marching band after every home game touchdown. The Commanders are owned by a group managed by Josh Harris, who acquired the franchise from Daniel Snyder in 2023 for $6.05 billion.
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 in use as a sports team name. The most prominent was the NFL's Washington Redskins, who resisted decades of opposition before retiring the name in 2020 following renewed attention to racial justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests. 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.
Daniel Marc Snyder is an American businessman and former owner of 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 one of the worst owners in the history of professional sports, with the team managing only six playoff appearances and two playoff wins during his 24 years of ownership.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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, says the Wirtz family owner, Blackhawk refers to a World War I-era U.S. Army division which was named for prominent Illinois-based Native American chief Black Hawk.
Maulian Bryant is a Penobscot activist and political figure. A former member of the Penobscot Nation Tribal Council, she was appointed the Penobscot Nation's first tribal ambassador in 2017 and continued in that role until 2024. In September of that year, she accepted a position as executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance, representing the four Indigenous Nations in Maine.
Linda M. Waggoner is an independent researcher and author whose work focuses on Native American history and anthropology. She has written about Red Wing, William Henry Dietz, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, and Angel De Cora.
The Kansas City Chiefs are 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.