6 Dumb Things Dan Snyder Has Said About the Name of His Football Team

Snyder: Nick Wass/AP; dunce cap: Stockbyte/Thinkstock. Illustration by Dave Gilson.

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A year ago, I explained Mother Jones‘ decision to stop using the name of Washington, DC’s pro football team, both online and in print. We joined Slate and The New Republic in doing so, and since then, a number of other news organizations and journalists have followed suit.

Even as more people have spoken out against the team’s derogatory moniker—everyone from President Obama to Gene Simmons—owner Dan Snyder hasn’t given an inch, repeatedly arguing that it’s simply not offensive. This week he even went on a mini media tour, giving radio and TV interviews as NFL training camps kicked into gear.

In the meantime, Snyder has doubled down on his commitment to keeping the R-word. Here’s a list of some of the dumbest things he’s said about it in the last year (as well as some additional reading, for context):

“It is a symbol of everything we stand for: strength, courage, pride, and respect—the same values we know guide Native Americans.”

In an October letter to season ticket holders: “The name was never a label. It was, and continues to be, a badge of honor…It is a symbol of everything we stand for: strength, courage, pride, and respect—the same values we know guide Native Americans and which are embedded throughout their rich history as the original Americans.”
(See also: “Often Contemptuous” and “Usually Offensive”: 120 Years of Defining “Redskin”)

In a March letter to season ticket holders, following months of criticism (including this Super Bowl ad): “I’ve been encouraged by the thousands of fans across the country who support keeping the Redskins tradition alive. Most—by overwhelming majorities—find our name to be rooted in pride for our shared heritage and values.”
(See also: “Dan Snyder to Native Americans: We’re Cool, Right? Native Americans to Dan Snyder: [Redacted]”)

Following an April ceremony at a Virginia high school: “We understand the issues out there, and we’re not an issue. The real issues are real-life issues, real-life needs, and I think it’s time that people focus on reality.”
(See also: “Washington NFL Team’s New Native American Foundation Is Already Off to a Great Start”)

In a Monday interview with former Washington player Chris Cooley on ESPN 980, the radio station Snyder owns: “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 about it, that need clicks. But the reality is no one ever talks about what’s going on on reservations.”
(See also: “Outrage in Indian Country As Redskins Owner Announces Foundation”)

“A Redskin is a football player. A Redskin is our fans. The Washington Redskins fan base represents honor, represents respect, represents pride.”

More from the Cooley interview: “It’s honor, it’s respect, it’s pride, and I think that every player here sees it, feels it. Every alumni feels it. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s a historical thing. This is a very historical franchise…I think it would be nice if, and forget the media from that perspective, but really focus on the fact that—the facts, the history, the truth, the tradition.”
(See also: “Former Redskins Player Jason Taylor Says Redskins Name Is Offensive”)

In a Tuesday interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines: “A Redskin is a football player. A Redskin is our fans. The Washington Redskins fan base represents honor, represents respect, represents pride. Hopefully winning. And, and, it, it’s a positive. Taken out of context, you can take things out of context all over the place. But in this particular case, it is what it is. It’s very obvious…We sing ‘Hail to the Redskins.’ We don’t say hurt anybody. We say, ‘Hail to the Redskins. Braves on the warpath. Fight for old DC.’ We only sing it when we score touchdowns. That’s the problem, because last season we didn’t sing it quite enough as we would’ve liked to.”
(See also: “Timeline: A Century of Racist Sports Team Names”)

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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