Staten Island, N.Y. — It is possible to live in a building that is less dependent on oil delivered energy.
In principle, the form of a building and its composition can capture a great deal of solar energy; adding, foremost, comfort to our daily routines and reducing fuel consumption.
The solar radiation allowed into the building can be managed to immediately, or at a later time, warm spaces in a way that hot air systems or water filled radiators cannot offer economically, or environmentally.
Passive solar energy is not new. In fact, it has been used throughout history. Native Americans in the canyons of Arizona would use the southern cliff exposure of a canyon to heat their adobe buildings cleverly placed in caves just so that the low winter sun angle would soak them with sunlight while the summer angle would be higher and therefore missing the buildings.
Tracking the sun was part of life; many activities were dependent on the seasons and the sun path. Civilizations worshipped the sun for its power to generate and sustain life.
Although the reverence toward our star is not the same, the beliefs of earlier man still hold: A building is a receptor of energy and light. Its orientation is the most important factor to observe when planning a house. A properly oriented south facing wall will, with sufficient fenestration, allow solar energy to enter the building envelope and warm the interior.
To control this energy, storing heat for night use or limiting its entry in summer months requires the use of materials with great mass and canopy systems that block sunlight from entering into window openings.
Ceramic tiled floors or even concrete can absorb great quantities of sun energy during the day (thermal mass) and release it in the night hours passively repeating the cycle without failures.
Exterior canopies designed to block the summer high angle sunlight from entering, similar to American Indian canyon architecture, are a necessary feature of a passive solar house.
The building components of these homes and how they operate, are slightly different from what we are accustomed to. A basic knowledge of solar energy and its impact on buildings is probably most anyone will need to live in and operate a passive solar home. The daily heating cycles will repeat without human intervention.
Sizing of components such as windows, insulation, storage mass and canopies requires a professional. Because of their lack of moving parts, they will function for a long time without maintenance.
However, even the most well designed and properly sited solar building should not be without a conventional heating system. It will most likely be used sparingly with many savings.
The well controlled sun energy into our homes can be invigorating to its occupants. Plants, pets and ourselves enjoy time in the sun. Aside from the radiant quality, sunlight can define the space it fills, it can be filtered through drapes and glass with colored tones. Light bounces off shiny ceramic,metal and marble; it will show wood grain in furniture and blossom flowers in December.
Ciro Asperti is a member of the Saten Island chapter of the American Institute of Architects. His column appears twice each month in the Home section. Contact the organization at aiasiny.org.
Just like our Native American culture is not a Halloween costume or a sports mascot, we are also not a cute construction paper project for Thanksgiving. You are not doing our rich culture any justice when you make brown paper bag vests or paper feather headbands.
Hopefully you’ve read some of the articles recently posted on PowWows.com to know that what we typically learned about Thanksgiving was a romanticized myth. How I wish we could sugar coat history, and make it easier for our children to understand, but we can not and should not. Instead I think the focus at Thanksgiving time, should shift away from reenacting the myth of the First Thanksgiving and decorating the classroom with Pilgrims and Indians. We should instead focus on things the children can be thankful for in their own lives. Teaching about Native Americans only at Thanksgiving from a historical perspective will reinforce the idea that they only existed in the past.
Since thanks and giving are in the name of the holiday, it only makes sense to teach the children the meaning of thankfulness and gratitude. Here are several projects that can help them be grateful.
Multicultural Thanksgiving Wreath : This would be great if you want to incorporate some Native American words into the tree such as the Navajo word for Thank You = Ahéhee’
There are many cultures around the world that celebrate autumn harvest. Why not focus on the season for a craft?
Corn Husk Dolls – On the Native Tech website there is a great story that goes along with the doll instruction if you would like to incorporate some Native American culture.
Hopefully I’ve provided you with some fun activities you can do with your children this season. However you choose to celebrate I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!
When you hear about the Pilgrims and “the Indians” harmoniously sharing the “first Thanksgiving” meal in 1621, the Indians referred to so generically are the ancestors of the contemporary members of the Wampanoag Nation. As the story commonly goes, the Pilgrims who sailed from England on the Mayflower and landed at what became Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620 had a good harvest the next year. So Plymouth Gov. William Bradford organized a feast to celebrate the harvest and invited a group of “Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit” to the party. The feast lasted three days and, according to chronicler Edward Winslow, Bradford send four men on a “fowling mission” to prepare for the feast and the Wampanoag guests brought five deer to the party. And ever since then, the story goes, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving on the third Thursday of November. Not exactly, Ramona Peters, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer told Indian Country Today Media Network in a conversation on the day before Thanksgiving 2012—391 years since that mythological “first Thanksgiving.”
We know what we’re taught in mainstream media and in schools is made up. What’s the Wampanoag version of what happened?
Yeah, it was made up. It was Abraham Lincoln who used the theme of Pilgrims and Indians eating happily together. He was trying to calm things down during the Civil War when people were divided. It was like a nice unity story.
So it was a political thing?
Yes, it was public relations. It’s kind of genius, in a way, to get people to sit down and eat dinner together. Families were divided during the Civil War.
So what really happened?
We made a treaty. The leader of our nation at the time—Yellow Feather Oasmeequin [Massasoit] made a treaty with (John) Carver [the first governor of the colony]. They elected an official while they were still on the boat. They had their charter. They were still under the jurisdiction of the king [of England]—at least that’s what they told us. So they couldn’t make a treaty for a boatload of people so they made a treaty between two nations—England and the Wampanoag Nation.
What did the treaty say?
It basically said we’d let them be there and we would protect them against any enemies and they would protect us from any of ours. [The 2011 Native American copy coin commemorates the 1621 treaty between the Wampanoag tribe and the Pilgrims of Plymouth colony.] It was basically an I’ll watch your back, you watch mine’ agreement. Later on we collaborated on jurisdictions and creating a system so that we could live together.
What’s the Mashpee version of the 1621 meal?
You’ve probably heard the story of how Squanto assisted in their planting of corn? So this was their first successful harvest and they were celebrating that harvest and planning a day of their own thanksgiving. And it’s kind of like what some of the Arab nations do when they celebrate by shooting guns in the air. So this is what was going on over there at Plymouth. They were shooting guns and canons as a celebration, which alerted us because we didn’t know who they were shooting at. So Massasoit gathered up some 90 warriors and showed up at Plymouth prepared to engage, if that was what was happening, if they were taking any of our people. They didn’t know. It was a fact-finding mission.
When they arrived it was explained through a translator that they were celebrating the harvest, so we decided to stay and make sure that was true, because we’d seen in the other landings—[Captain John] Smith, even the Vikings had been here—so we wanted to make sure so we decided to camp nearby for a few days. During those few days, the men went out to hunt and gather food—deer, ducks, geese, and fish. There are 90 men here and at the time I think there are only 23 survivors of that boat, the Mayflower, so you can imagine the fear. You have armed Natives who are camping nearby. They [the colonists] were always vulnerable to the new land, new creatures, even the trees—there were no such trees in England at that time. People forget they had just landed here and this coastline looked very different from what it looks like now. And their culture—new foods, they were afraid to eat a lot of things. So they were very vulnerable and we did protect them, not just support them, we protected them. You can see throughout their journals that they were always nervous and, unfortunately, when they were nervous they were very aggressive.
So the Pilgrims didn’t invite the Wampanoags to sit down and eat turkey and drink some beer?
[laughs] Ah, no. Well, let’s put it this way. People did eat together [but not in what is portrayed as “the first Thanksgiving]. It was our homeland and our territory and we walked all through their villages all the time. The differences in how they behaved, how they ate, how they prepared things was a lot for both cultures to work with each other. But in those days, it was sort of like today when you go out on a boat in the open sea and you see another boat and everyone is waving and very friendly—it’s because they’re vulnerable and need to rely on each other if something happens. In those days, the English really needed to rely on us and, yes, they were polite as best they could be, but they regarded us as savages nonetheless.
So you did eat together sometimes, but not at the legendary Thanksgiving meal.
No. We were there for days. And this is another thing: We give thanks more than once a year in formal ceremony for different season, for the green corn thanksgiving, for the arrival of certain fish species, whales, the first snow, our new year in May—there are so many ceremonies and I think most cultures have similar traditions. It’s not a foreign concept and I think human beings who recognize greater spirit then they would have to say thank you in some formal way.
What are Mashpee Wampanoags taught about Thanksgiving now?
Most of us are taught about the friendly Indians and the friendly Pilgrims and people sitting down and eating together. They really don’t go into any depth about that time period and what was going on in 1620. It was a whole different mindset. There was always focus on food because people had to work hard to go out and forage for food, not the way it is now. I can remember being in Oklahoma amongst a lot of different tribal people when I was in junior college and Thanksgiving was coming around and I couldn’t come home—it was too far and too expensive—and people were talking about, Thanksgiving, and, yeah, the Indians! And I said, yeah, we’re the Wampanoags. They didn’t know! We’re not even taught what kind of Indians, Hopefully, in the future, at least for Americans, we do need to get a lot brighter about other people.
So, basically, today the Wampanoag celebrate Thanksgiving the way Americans celebrate it, or celebrate it as Americans?
Yes, but there’s another element to this that needs to be noted as well. The Puritans believed in Jehovah and they were listening for Jehovah’s directions on a daily basis and trying to figure out what would please their God. So for Americans, for the most part there’s a Christian element to Thanksgiving so formal prayer and some families will go around the table and ask what are you thankful for this year. In Mashpee families we make offerings of tobacco. For traditionalists, we give thanks to our first mother, our human mother, and to Mother Earth. Then, because there’s no real time to it you embrace your thanks in passing them into the tobacco without necessarily speaking out loud, but to actually give your mind and spirit together thankful for so many things… Unfortunately, because we’re trapped in this cash economy and this 9-to-5 [schedule], we can’t spend the normal amount of time on ceremonies, which would last four days for a proper Thanksgiving.
Do you regard Thanksgiving as a positive thing?
As a concept, a heartfelt Thanksgiving is very important to me as a person. It’s important that we give thanks. For me, it’s a state of being. You want to live in a state of thanksgiving, meaning that you use the creativity that the Creator gave you. You use your talents. You find out what those are and you cultivate them and that gives thanks in action.
And will your family do something for Thanksgiving?
Yes, we’ll do the rounds, make sure we contact family members, eat with friends and then we’ll all celebrate on Saturday at the social and dance together with the drum.
Attorneys discuss a proposed Internal Revenue Service regulation that would address income earned from tribal members who exercise their fishing rights:
On November 15, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service published a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) along with proposed regulations regarding the treatment of certain income derived from Indian fishing rights-related activity when it is contributed to a qualified retirement plan such as a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored pension plan. The notice can be viewed at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/11/15/2013-27331/treatment-of-income-from-indian-fishing-rights-related-activity-as-compensation. The proposed regulations clear one of the current hurdles to including employees of an Indian fishing rights operation in a typical employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401(k) plan. Unlike most types of employee compensation, Indian fishing rights-related income is exempt from both income and employment taxes under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 7873(a)(1) and (a)(2). Therefore, Indian fishing rights-related income is not included in a taxpayer’s gross income. The IRS has traditionally taken the position that in order to make a contribution to an individual retirement account (IRA) or a 401(k) plan, an individual must have “compensation” that is included in gross income. The proposed regulations clarify that payments received by Indian tribe members as remuneration for services they perform in fishing rights-related activities will not be excluded from the definition of “compensation” for purposes of IRC Section 415 and underlying regulations, merely because such payments are not subject to income or employment taxes. Consequently, the proposed regulations allow employees receiving such payments to participate in and contribute to a retirement plan qualified under IRC Section 401(a).
Debora Cartagena, CDC Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and affecting the health of smokers in general, as well as those inhaling “second hand” smoke.
Native Americans have the highest rates of smoking before, during and after pregnancy than any other ethnic group in the nation. That’s according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control.
According to the CDC, 55 percent of Native American women smoked before pregnancy. During pregnancy, that rate dropped significantly to 26 percent. However, that rate was still the highest of any racial or ethnic group in the nation.
“One out of two American Indian and Alaska Native women were smoking prior to pregnancy,” said Van Tong, an epidemiologist with the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health. “Only half of these women quit smoking by the last trimester of pregnancy.”
Tong says the reasons for these high rates aren’t well understood, but that more outreach needed to be done to get women to stop smoking while pregnant.
Smoking during pregnancy increases risks for complications including lower birth weights and babies more prone to health issues once their born.
This morning at 11 a.m., Native American Code Talkers from 33 tribes were honored at the nations Capitol in Washington D.C. Taking the limelight with such notable historical figures as Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa and Astronauts, the Native Code Talkers and their prospective tribes were awarded Congressional Gold Medals.
A plethora of Senatorial and Congressional notables were present at the awards ceremony to include House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH), Tom Cole (R-OK), Ron Kind (D-WI), Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV).
Also in attendance were family members and tribal leaders representing the Native Code Talkers as well as 96-year-old Edmond Harjo.
Speaker John Boehner opened the ceremony by applauding the efforts of Harjo who had recognized a fellow soldier’s language in 1944 and was later utilized by the U.S. military as a code talker.
“Edmond and his brothers were at Normandy and Iwo Jima and they mobilized the weapon of language to thwart the fiercest enemy the free people have ever known and made a difference …join me in applauding their perseverance and the deeds that have been relegated to legend and may they now live in memory,” said Boehner.
Native American Congressman Tom Cole then shared his thoughts. “It is an enormous honor for me to get to share this moment with you – no one has fought against an alliance like Native Americans. Native Americans enlist at a higher rate than any ethnicity in this land. Most famous of those warriors are the Navajo code talkers of World War II, but 33 different tribes contributed to the code talkers.”
“From my home state of Oklahoma three are Choctaw, Comanche and Kiowa they saved lives and won battles. They did so by giving the United States the unique battlefield advantage of secure communication,” said Cole.
Similar appreciative sentiments were also given by Kind, Johnson, McConnell and Inhofe who also described ways code talkers were critical to war efforts. Their descriptions included how code talkers could decipher their messages instantly with 100 percent accuracy, while machines took up to 30 minutes to decipher alternative codes. Also, more than 800 battlefield communications were shared in the first 48 hours of Iwo Jima. Several speakers mentioned that code talkers enlisted at a time when they were not even honored as citizens.
Pelosi expressed appreciation for representing California as a state with the highest percentage of Native Americans before thanking the code talkers.
“The code talkers, using their language… committed to the cause of freedom. Their sense of duty was never shaken nor was their resolve. Their patriotism never wavered nor did their courage. Their bonds of brotherhood were never broken nor were their codes. Their heroism and sacrifice and these contributions went unrecognized for too long. It is a privilege for Congress to bestow the Native American code talkers the highest honor we can bestow, the Congressional Gold medal,” said Pelosi.
After Pelosi, Senator Reid delivered a poignantly truthful account of the history of Native people and their contribution to the war efforts of the United Sates.
“According to firsthand accounts from the pilgrims, who arrived to this continent, Native Americans did not farm the land so this wasn’t truly their land. According to the pioneers who pushed past the Mississippi, Native Americans were not civilized, so they didn’t truly own the land. According to the prospectors who rushed for the hills of Nevada, California and even Alaska, Native Americans did not speak English so they did not truly own the land.
“Strangers had forced the Native peoples from their lands slaughtered their game, stifled their religions outlawed their ceremonies and ravaged their communities…in the late 1800s, the United States government forced Native American children to attend English only boarding schools. Native children were torn from their families, taken far from home in boxcars and buggies, given English names, forced to cut their hair short and teachers beat the children with leather straps when they spoke their Native languages. The government told them their language had no value, but the children held onto their language, culture and history at great personal risk.”
“In this nation’s hour of greatest need these same Native American languages proved to have great value in the early years of World War II…Why would Native Americans, who had been robbed of their land and their culture agree to use their precious language to protect the country that had neglected and abused them for centuries? As one Navajo Native American code talker by the name of Chester Nez put it, ‘Somebody has got to defend this country, somebody has to defend freedom,” said Reid.
Five college basketball teams from four schools will wear turquoise uniforms as a tribute to Natives for Native American Heritage Month. The men’s basketball squads from Oregon State, New Mexico, and Florida State will wear the stylish garb provided by Nike N7, as will both the men’s and women’s teams from the University of Nevada.
“The annual Nike N7 game has had a significant impact on the Oregon State community,” said Craig Robinson, head coach at Oregon State, the school which started the tradition in 2010. “When we first talked about this idea four years ago, we had a unique opportunity with a very special player, Joe Burton, who represented his tribe as the first member to earn a full athletic scholarship with a major university. I’m excited to see other schools embracing the idea because there are so many athletes who will benefit from the awareness we’re creating to provide opportunities for Native American and Aboriginal kids to play sports and be active.”
The other three schools have their own connection to America’s Native population. Florida State works with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which permits FSU to use its tribal name for sports teams. Nevada is the alma mater of Tahnee Robinson, Northern Cheyenne, who was the first Native player drafted by the WNBA and is a Nike N7 Ambassador. The University of New Mexico has ties to the numerous Pueblos and Nations in the state, as well as to the Notah Begay III Foundation, which is also a Nike N7 partner.
The dates on which the teams will wear the special uniforms are as follows:
Building on the participation of tribes announced in President Barack Obama’s recent executive order laying out a plan to deal with climate change, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) announced that it too would partner with the administration.
As the White House Tribal Nations Conference wrapped up, NCAI announced measures to work directly with the federal government to address climate change effects in Indian country.
Several federal officials noted the severe impacts that climate change has had on American Indians and Alaska Natives, the NCAI said in a release. During the conference, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Obama and others spoke directly to those issues in Indian country and about how the government can work with tribal leaders to best address these challenges.
Jewell set the tone for ongoing cooperation, the NCAI said in its statement, by speaking “of the ongoing dialogues we need to have as we work together toward tribal self-determination and self-governance and promoting prosperous and resilient tribal nations.”
Obama, having named Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Karen Diver and Northwest (Alaska) Arctic Borough Mayor Reggie Joule to the new State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, reiterated his commitment to working with tribes on the issues.
“The health of tribal nations depends on the health of tribal lands. So it falls on all of us to protect the extraordinary beauty of those lands for future generations,” he said at the Tribal Nations Conference. “And already, many of your lands have felt the impacts of a changing climate, including more extreme flooding and droughts. That’s why, as part of the Climate Action Plan I announced this year, my administration is partnering with you to identify where your lands are vulnerable to climate change, how we can make them more resilient.”
Obama referred to tribes extensively in the seven-point plan, which he issued on November 1. Many tribes already have action plans in place, since they have been forced to deal early on with the ramifications of a rapidly changing environment.
The NCAI also noted tribal references from Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, who talked about the more than 30 Alaska Native villages “facing imminent threats from rising seas levels,” as well as the ways in which climate change has hindered hydroelectric and other energy projects. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy asked tribal leaders to “help us explain why climate change must be addressed now and why it is our responsibility” to combat it for seventh generation and beyond, the NCAI said.
“It is critically important that tribal leaders are at the table because too often, Native voices are left out of federal conversations around mitigating the effects of climate change,” the NCAI said in its statement. “Indian country faces some of the most difficult challenges stemming from climate change because of the remote location of many tribal lands and, particularly in Alaska, the dependence on the land and animals for subsistence living. NCAI applauds the Administration for this effort and is hopeful that by working together, government-to-government, tribal communities will have the tools necessary to address climate change.”
Last year, five Native runners from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota made a trip to the Big Apple as part of Team One Spirit. Their mission was to complete the 2012 IMG New York City Marathon and raise money for a youth center in their community. But when Super-storm Sandy struck at the end of October, the race was cancelled.
That disappointment didn’t stop the “Lakota Five,” as they later became known, from trying again. This year, Team One Spirit returned to NYC to finish what they started.
Nupa White Plum finished with the best time, completing the 26.2-mile course in 3 hours, 21 minutes, 17 seconds; Alex Wilson’s time was 3 hours, 41 minutes and 51 seconds; Kelsey Good Lance finished in 3 hours, 57 minutes, 7 seconds; and Amanda Carlow, the team’s only female runner, finished in 4 hours, 38 minutes and 20 seconds.
The fifth member, Jeffrey Turning Heart, Jr., suffered a knee injury at Mile 9, but he completed the race, finishing in 6 hours, 43 minutes, and 26 seconds.
Jeri Baker founder of Team One Spirit was overjoyed with the team’s finish. “This is just the beginning of something big,” Baker said. “These runners have become role models in their community; an inspiration for young Native youth, who now look to running with a sense of excitement and pride.”
Team One Spirit in Central Park, left to right, Alex Wilson, Nupa White Plume, Jeff Turning Heart, Amanda Carlow and Kelsey Good Lance
“There are those who say it was reckless, selfish and plain stupid, but in the end, this was a 22-year-old dream that came true for me,” Heart said.
The mission of this year’s run was to raise copy8,000. At the conclusion of the race, they exceeded that goal with donations still coming in. These five Lakota runners have brought a new sense of pride to the Pine Ridge community and, perhaps, a renewed interest in running to the entire reservation.
“Running is in an important part of our community,” said Dale Pine, the team’s coach. “We need it to help the youth stay fit, fight off diabetes and give them something to strive for…I know we are really making progress because before we left [for New York City] Team One Spirit hosted a Halloween run for the youth; and despite the cold weather, and snow on the ground, we had over 50 kids out there running.”
Courtesy Tessa McLean Demonstrators march with signs toward Invesco Field in Denver, Colo., to protest the Washington Redskins name as the team arrived at the stadium, Oct. 27, 2013.
By Simon Moya-Smith, NBC News
Hundreds of people rallied in Denver on Sunday to protest the name of the Washington Redskins and to send a message to team owner Dan Snyder that the nickname is derogatory to Native Americans.
Two Native American organizations, American Indian Movement Colorado and Idle No More Denver, began the demonstration Sunday morning as the team prepared to kick-off against the Denver Broncos.
Tessa McLean of the Ojibwe Nation and youth council leader of AIM Colorado, told NBC News that they marched to Sports Authority Field from nearby Auraria Campus and met the players and coaches with placards, drums and a bullhorn as the team pulled into the parking lot.
McLean added that Native Americans and their allies spent Saturday afternoon making signs for the demonstration, some reading “Change the Name” with others declaring, “What’s in a name? Everything!”
“(Redskins) is a term that was created for proof of Indian kill,” she said, referencing the early-American sale of Indian scalps.
Tink Tinker of the Osage Nation and a professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at the University of Denver, told the crowd that the issue demonstrates a history of racism toward Native Americans.
“It’s always been about the hatred of Indian skin,” he said.
Basim Mahmood, whose ancestry stems from east India, told NBC News he was there to protest against discrimination.
“As a person of Indian origin, I stand in solidarity with them because we are all fighting the same thing — which is racism,” he said.
Radio ads, paid for by the Oneida Indian Nation in New York, have aired in cities where the Washington Redskins are scheduled to play. Prior to Sunday’s match-up between the two teams, Denver’s Sports Station KDSP-FM ran the latest ad.
Courtesy Tessa McLean
Reddog Rudy, a member of the American Indian Movement Colorado and of Ute and Chicano heritage, protests outside of Invesco Field in Denver, Colo., Sunday, October 27, 2013.
Oneida Nation has encouraged Americans to lobby the NFL in support of the name change at www.changethemascot.org, a website that debuted at the beginning of the 2013-14 football season.
The issue over the team name has even prompted comments from President Barack Obama who said that were he the owner of the team, he would consider changing the name.
“I’ve got to say, 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 sizable group of people, I’d think about changing it,” he said.
Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray chimed into the debate earlier this year by stating that if the team wishes to relocate within the district’s borders from its base in Landover, Maryland, Snyder would need to consider changing the name.
On Oct. 9, Snyder released a statement saying that he “respects the opinion of those who disagree” with his position, but reiterated that he remains immovable on the subject, citing an acclaimed team history.
“We owe it to our fans and coaches and players, past and present, to preserve that heritage,” he wrote.
Numerous sports writers and publications including Mother Jones, Slate and the New Republic have recently announced that they have instituted policies against using the team name in their stories.
This week, officials of the NFL will meet with the Oneida Indian Nation in New York City to discuss the caustic subject of a name change, the Associated Press reports.
Debra Preston of the Omaha Nation, who was at Invesco Field protesting with her 8-year-old granddaughter, Lilliah Walker, told NBC News she was there in honor of Native American children and elders.
“We want Indian mascots to be deleted from mother earth,” she said. “This is our country, our nation, and we’re sick and tired of racist names being used against us.”
A group of Native Americans have sued the Washington Redskins arguing against the team’s trademark rights to the name. Trademarks that are deemed racist are illegal under U.S. federal law.
Courtesy Tessa McLean