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“The Zuni Pueblo tribe sent notice to Native artists that representatives of the Washington NFL team’s Original Americans Foundation will be in Zuni, N.M., on Monday afternoon to buy jewelry, pottery, etchings and other artwork.
“Preferred items will be those that have the Washington Redskins team logo, or use of team colors … embedded in the art work,” the notice says. It also asks artists to “spread the word” to others who may have logo art to sell.
“We have a very depressed economy and the (tribal) governor wanted to help local Zuni artists,” tribal administrator Hanna Weeke told USA TODAY Sports. She said buyers often insist artists cut their prices but she believes foundation buyers will pay in full.
Washington team owner Daniel Snyder has visited the tribe. Earlier this week he told ESPN980, a radio station he owns: “I went out to Zuni, for example, in New Mexico, they’re a Pueblo tribe. They have 67% unemployment. We talk in our country that we’re now at 6%, or whatever, unemployment. And that’s too high. How about 67% unemployment? You’d sit there and say, ‘No, it can’t be.’ Well, it is.””
– USA Today, Redskins foundation seeks Native artwork with team logo.
“That is the strategy of Snyder’s new foundation: Go to desperate poor Native American communities, offer foundation support of some sort or another that the communities are hard-pressed to reject given their needs, and connect it to the use and promotion of the Washington team’s racially disparaging name.
Some of this sounds less like charity and philanthropy and more like the history of a part of the Christian missionary outreach (actively supported by the federal government) to Native Americans in the 1800s. In return for assistance from whites, Native Americans were encouraged and expected to adopt white ways and to be assimilated into white culture. Now, through the philanthropy of Snyder’s NFL team, Native Americans are encouraged to assimilate a racially disparaging team name. That’s the chutzpah of Dan Snyder’s missionary approach to philanthropy, except that he isn’t offering food and assistance in exchange for white culture and religion. He simply wants Native Americans to take the charitable money in return, at a minimum, for turning a blind eye to the racially disparaging team name.”
– Nonprofit Quarterly, Dan Snyder Seeks Original Native American Art to Redwash Foundation.
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Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #32 – Predatorial Phauxlanthropy (Redskins).
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
