NEW YORK (AP) — Representatives of the Oneida Indian Nation have requested a meeting with all 32 NFL owners during Super Bowl week, hoping to persuade them to get the Washington franchise to drop the nickname Redskins.
Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the “Change the Mascot Campaign,” said Wednesday that his group asked in a meeting with NFL executives that Commissioner Roger Goodell and Redksins owner Daniel Snyder “visit our homelands.”
The Oneidas also asked for an amendment to league bylaws to prohibit franchises from naming a team with any term that is a racial epithet. Halbritter says the dictionary defines the word ‘redskins’ precisely like that.
And Halbritter’s group asked Goodell to ‘use his power to force Snyder to the league executive committee for possible sanctions’ should the team continue to use the name.
