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WASHINGTON REDSKINS
Frederick W. Smith

Activist group targets FedEx over Washington NFL team name

Erik Brady
USA TODAY Sports
The Washington NFL team got hit with another call from a Native American group to change its name to something not a racial slur.

The National Congress of American Indians sent a letter to FedEx CEO Frederick W. Smith on Tuesday asking for his help to change the Washington NFL team's name.

The two-page letter, set to arrive Wednesday, comes one week after a federal trademark court ruled "Redskins" is disparaging to American Indians. Smith, who owns part of the team, told CNBC last week that his company does not have a dog in the fight and that he prefers to keep his personal view to himself. A company statement Tuesday said FedEx has a longstanding contractual commitment to naming rights at FedEx Field and that questions about the team name should be directed to the team.

"At FedEx Field, your company is allowing its iconic brand to be used as a platform to promote the R-word — a racist epithet that was screamed at Native Americans as they were dragged at gunpoint off their lands," says the letter obtained by USA TODAY Sports. It is signed by NCAI executive director Jacqueline Pata, Oneida Indian Nation representative Ray Halbritter and United Church of Christ ministers John Deckenback and Graylan Hagler.

The letter notes that a section of FedEx Field is named for George Preston Marshall, the team's original owner, who was last in the NFL to integrate and only under pressure from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Attached to that the letter is a one-page document listing Marshall's racist history.

"The decision to name part of FedEx Field after this segregationist was not merely a holdover from a bygone era," the letter says, citing the stadium's 1997 opening. "Perhaps worse, team officials have chosen for years to use the FedEx-branded stadium to continue honoring Marshall in this way, at the very same time they claim they do not intend to offend people of color by promoting and profiting from the R-word racial slur Marshall used as the team's name."

Washington team spokesman Tony Wyllie told USA TODAY Sports that a previous team owner, Jack Kent Cooke, had sections of his self-named stadium named after Pro Football Hall of Famers — Sammy Baugh, George Allen, Vince Lombardi, Joe Gibbs and Pete Rozelle, in addition to Marshall — and that current owner Daniel Snyder did not change the section names when he bought the team.

Frederick Smith, chairman, president and chief executive officer of FedEx Corp., is a part owner of the Washington NFL team and holds the naming rights to the team's stadium.

Snyder did, however, change the name of the stadium. It briefly was Redskins Stadium until FedEx bought naming rights in 1999.

Last week, CNBC host Kelly Evans asked Smith if he believed the team should change its name in light of the trademark board ruling that canceled six of the team's federal trademark registrations.

"Well, first of all, let me answer that question from the standpoint of FedEx, which sponsors FedEx Field," Smith said. "We have a long-standing contract with Washington Football, Inc. The Redskins play at FedEx Field, but there are many, many other events there — the Rolling Stones, Notre Dame, Army and Navy football, Kenny Chesney. So that's our sponsorship, and we really don't have any dog in this issue from a standpoint of FedEx.

"From a personal standpoint, I'm a shareowner in the Redskins football team, but Mr. Snyder -- who's the majority owner -- and the Redskins speak for the franchise."

When Evans pressed Smith on his personal view, he said: "Going to remain personal, Kelly. ... Our sponsorship is a good one for FedEx Field, and the Redskins need to speak on the Redskins' name."

The NCAI letter cites Smith's own words that diversity is "a part of the FedEx DNA." The letter applauds that sentiment but adds, "A critical part of promoting diversity is showing mutual respect for different cultures. ... FedEx's brand is being leveraged to promote some of the most divisive messages ever conceived -- the messages of segregation and hate."

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