Oneida Nation Requests Meeting With All NFL Owners
WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- It's been their team name for 80 years.
Now, the push to change the Redskins team name is growing as members of the Oneida Indian Nation meet with representatives from the NFL.
Jessica Kartalija has the latest.
The Oneida Indian Nation wants the team to change their name.
Unfortunately, they said their meeting with the NFL was not as successful as they had hoped.
As the NFL season heats up, so does the push for the Washington Redskins to change their name.
"[The Redskins should] change the mascot from a dictionary-defined offensive racial term and have a legacy of something that is more inclusive and representative of the ideals of this country," said Ray Halbritter of Oneida Nation.
Members of Congress are listening and the D.C. Council will take up a resolution urging the Redskins to change their name.
"This is clearly from where I am, you know, where I am sitting, a damaging, a damaging process and something that needs to be stopped, and I hope the Washington organization, the NFL, hear this and they reconsider their decision and change the mascot," said clinical psychologist Michael Freedman.
Some newspapers are even banning the team name from print.
But the campaign was briefly overshadowed as a New York assemblywoman began heckling Oneida Nation representative, Ray Halbritter during a news conference, saying he's not a legitimate member of the tribe.
Overall, the Oneida Nation is calling their meeting with the NFL "disappointing."
Now, they're requesting a meeting with all 32 NFL team owners during Super Bowl week.
"Mutual respect is not present when a football team [is marketed across the world] using billions of dollars and includes an ugly caricature of an ethnic group and employs a slur referring to their alleged skin color," said Halbritter.
Representatives from the Oneida Nation said after their meeting with the NFL, it became evident that they were defending the continued use of the Redskins name.
President Barack Obama has said that if he were the owner of the Washington Redskins and knew the name is offending a number of people, he would "think about changing it."
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