You know who is pretty knowledgeable about the plights of many Native Americans? Daniel Snyder. And in case you've forgotten (or never knew) who he is, he's the owner of the Washington Redskins - which according to today's liberal/media thinking makes him a racist because he won't change the name to the Washington Harry Reids or something.
Those demanding that the team change its name claim they are speaking on behalf of Native Americans and their sensitivities. Snyder has, in response, pledged to listen and learn about the real issues facing Native Americans. And he's backed that up with action. And you know what he's found? A football team's nickname is not one of the issues that matter to them:
And what I did see that got me and touched me, and really moved me, and I think you know because you have now visited a lot of reservations as well, is the plight of Native Americans. The things that people don’t talk about. You know, it’s sort of fun to talk about the name of our football team, because it gets some attention for some of the people that write it, that need clicks, or what have you. But reality is, no one ever talks about what’s going on on reservations, the fact that they have such high unemployment rates, health care issues, education issues, environmental issues, lack of water, lack of electricity.
No one wants to talk about that stuff, because it’s not cocktail, chit-chat-talk, it’s a real-life need, real-life issues. And I think they don’t want to focus on that, and I dedicated an effort to do that. And I said after what I saw, and listened, and learned, it moved me. It moved me, it moved my wife, it moved my family, it moved everyone who went with us — Bob Rothman, Dwight Schar, some of my partners went on many of the journeys. And we would go back the airport afterwards, saying, “Gosh, we gotta do something, we gotta help.”
And you mentioned the local community charity that we have, the Washington Redskins charity that have here in the community. And you talk about what we do for kids, and we said, you know, we can do something big for Native Americans, and we can do something for Indian country. We can bring to light a lot of the real-life issues, a lot of the real-life needs. Things that are going on that are not fun, chit-chat, cocktail talk about the name of our football team , but really talking about the fact that — I went out to Zuni, for example, in New Mexico, they’re a Pueblo tribe. They have 67 percent unemployment. We talk in our country that we’re now at six percent or whatever unemployment and that’s too high. How about 67 percent unemployment? You’d sit there and say, “No, it can’t be.” Well, it is. You talk about, in South Dakota, that they have unbelievably cold weather, and conditions that are just horrific, and they need some assistance.
And I think that those are the real issues that America should be talking about.
Amen.
And let's just put it out there: The people demanding that the Redskins change their name are doing so to make themselves look virtuous and sensitive. It's easy to focus on the symbolism, and to call someone else racist and insensitive. As Snyder suggests, you can do that during chit-chat at a cocktail party and then go home at night feeling satisfied with yourself because you expressed the socially acceptable sensitivities, but you didn't really do a damn thing to help anyone.
Now I don't think Dan Snyder has any obligation to help Native Americans with their problems just because he owns a football team called the Redskins. I think its great that he does so, but it's entirely up to him. His only obligation is to put a winning football team on the field - and there he hasn't done so well. Maybe if people would stop wasting his time with this name-change nonsense, he could do better.
