By Katie Galloway
Murphy News Service
The news media are preparing major coverage Sunday at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, where the Minnesota Vikings will face off against Washington.
And it won’t necessarily be to focus on the game between the two NFL teams with identical 3-5 won-loss records.
The biggest action is likely to be outside of the stadium and before the game.
That’s where and when The National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media, a non-profit organization, will hold a “No Honor in Racism” rally to protest the Washington team’s nickname — the Redskins. The group, along with the American Indian Movement, hopes to pull together a crowd of thousands to make its point the Washington should change its long-time nickname because it is racist and offensive to indigenous people.
Protesters will meet at Northrop Auditorium at 8:45 a.m, from where they will walk to the south side of “The Bank” to hold the rally. The event will begin with a prayer and an honor song. There will also be several speakers, including tribal and movement representatives, U.S. Congresswoman Betty McCollum and former Vikings strong safety Joey Browner.
Rally organizers say they expect around 2,000 people to attend, but they realize that a strong student turnout could increase that number. Clyde Bellecourt, the executive director of the American Indian Movement, said he would like to see a turnout of at least 5,000 people.
Not only are many American Indian people opposed to the team name, which has been called racist and offensive, but the stadium’s construction funding itself has been a related point of debate as well.
In 2007, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community donated $10 million to the university to help build the stadium.
Now, with the new Vikings stadium under construction and the team temporarily using the University of Minnesota’s stadium as a home base, a confluence of circumstances have developed in the event that will occur Sunday as the Washington team enters a building that was built in part by dollars donated by the very people who are demanding the team adopt a new, inoffensive, nickname.
Sunday’s game also falls at an interesting time for the indigenous community.
Not only is November American Indian Heritage Month, but this year was also the first year that the city of Minneapolis officially celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day.
The city of Minneapolis approved a motion this past April 25 to recognize the second Monday of every October as Indigenous Peoples Day. Minneapolis is not the only city to embrace Indigenous Peoples Day, but it is one of the first.
Since the 1977 proposal of the holiday at a United Nations-sponsored meeting a handful of cities across the country have adopted it in place of Columbus Day.
That’s when local American Indian Center buzzed with an excited energy on Oct. 13 as several hundred people from all corners of the state crowded into the huge auditorium to celebrate the day that they have now officially reclaimed from Christopher Columbus.
“Happy Indigenous Peoples Day” and “Get ready to rally” were the two main messages delivered by Clyde Bellecourt at the American Indian Center’s celebration earlier this month.
Bellecourt reminded the crowd that while they had won a victory for the indigenous community, there is still a lot of progress to be made.
A handful of people at the celebration showed their opposition to the team by wearing parody T-shirts featuring a picture of the Washington team’s mascot that said “Racists” instead of “Redskins.”
Jack Swanson, social media director for the American Indian Movement Interpretive Center, said the timing of all of the events has been and will be beneficial in creating awareness to the indigenous peoples’ cause.
The Coalition has promised the public that Sunday’s rally will be peaceful — but powerful. Planners are working with university and Minneapolis Police to try to ensure a safe environment for the rally. Police will offer escorts for the event.
Reporter Katie Galloway is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.