Check out the Super Bowl ad you didn’t get to see yesterday on television.

“Indian” sports brands used by professional teams were born in an era when racism and bigotry were accepted
by the dominant culture. These brands which have grown to become multi-million dollar franchises were
established at a time when the practice of using racial epithets and slurs as marketing slogans were a common
practice among white owners seeking to capitalize on cultural superiority and racial tensions.

Over the last fifty years a ground swell of support has mounted to bring an end to the era of racist and harmful
“Indian” mascots in sports and popular culture. Today, that support is stronger than ever. Rooted in the civil
rights movement, the quest for racial equality among American Indian and Alaska Native people began well
before the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) established a campaign in 1968 to bring an end to
negative and harmful stereotypes in the media and popular culture. While these advances have been positive,
equality still remains elusive in everyday life for Native peoples.

Read more about the problematic and offensive nature of the R-word as the NFL Washington football team’s name in this report, released by the National Congress of American Indians. To help, contact the team (website, Facebook, Twitter) and the NFL (Facebook, Twitter) to demand a change.