WASHINGTON, D.C. | The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) commends the public statement of Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who declared Friday in referring to the “R*dskins” name and mascot of the Washington NFL team that “it’s past time for the team to deal with what offends so many people.”

“Mayor Bowser’s statement represents a watershed development in Indian Country’s decades-long struggle to remove this and the many other offensive and degrading Native ‘themed’ mascots from sports and popular culture,” said NCAI President Fawn Sharp. “In this historic moment for racial justice, Mayor Bowser’s declaration reflects the growing tide among our nation’s leaders and all Americans to choose respect for Native people and all other people of color by ridding our country of the symbols of racism and intolerance that have long marginalized and dehumanized us.”

NCAI calls upon the leaders of professional sports leagues, school systems, state and local governments, and the business world across the country to condemn and abolish these mascots, which cause profound and well-documented harms to Native people, in particular Native youth.

NCAI is the oldest, largest, and most representative national organization serving American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations and their citizens, and has been leading Indian Country’s movement to eradicate offensive Native “themed” mascots from sports and popular culture for more than 50 years.