Native Americans Don't Mind Redskins Name: Poll
/- Originally published in The Brockville Recorder & Times (Ontario, Canada) on September 25, 2004
A poll of Native Americans found that an overwhelming majority of them are not bothered by the name of the Washington Redskins.
Only nine per cent of those polled said the name of the NFL team is "offensive," while 90 per cent said it's acceptable, according to the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey, released Friday.
Annenberg polled 768 Native Americans in every state except Hawaii and Alaska from Oct. 7, 2003, to Sept. 20, 2004.
The survey found little disparity between men and women or young and old.
The franchise began in Boston as the Braves but was purchased in 1932 by George Preston Marshall, who changed the name to honour head coach William "Lone Star" Dietz, a Native American. The team kept its moniker after moving to the nation's capital in 1937.
