Oneida Indian Nation hopes Sterling ruling gets NFL to change Redskins name
By Josh Sanchez
The NBA announced on Tuesday that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was receiving a lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine for his racist comments and bigotry, and that has lead to some hope that leagues around the sports world will follow suit and take a stand against future behavior of the same nature.
One group in particular, the Oneida Indian Nation, hopes that the NBA has set an example that the NFL could follow to remove the Washington Redskins name which comes with a history of racism.
“In banning Clippers owner Donald Sterling, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and other NBA team owners have taken a courageous stand against racism in professional sports, acknowledging that professional leagues cannot be a platform to promote bigotry,” Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter said in a release.
“In taking such appropriate disciplinary action, the NBA has shown leagues like the NFL that they have a moral responsibility to take disciplinary action against people like Dan Snyder, who also continues to proudly promote bigotry with the use of a dictionary-defined racial slur as his team’s name.”
It certainly raises an interesting question that the NFL will likely have to answer, and we wouldn’t expect to see any movement as a direct result of the Sterling ruling.
Do you think the NFL should take inspiration from NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the way he quickly squashed racism in his league and ban the Redskins name? Sound off in the comments section below with your thoughts.