During the NBA finals, a commercial aired that made the case against the Washington, D.C.-based NFL team nickname, The Redskins.

Anti-Redskins Ad

Controversy over the team’s nickname and mascot has swelled in recent years, with people urging the franchise to adopt a new nickname and mascot. The majority of the complaints have fallen on deaf ears, with no one taking action at the organizational level to do away with the offensive name.

In the two-minute add, put together by the Yocka Dehe Wintun Nation, Native Americans throughout history are pictured and mentioned by name, including Crazy Horse, Geronimo and Jim Thorpe. “Underserved, struggling, resilient,” is heard in the voiceover, “Unyielding, strong, indomitable.”

It continues, “Native Americans call themselves many things. The one thing they don’t call themselves…” Though “redskins” isn’t said, the video ends with a close-up of the Washington Redskins helmet next to a football.

“The ad celebrates Native American culture and opposes the racist name of Washington, D.C.’s NFL team,” reads a press release from Oneida National Homelands. “This is the first time the ad has aired on television, and it is being run in order to educate the general public about Native American opposition to the R-word.”

“The advertisement highlights the defining and distinguished characteristics, names and legacies of many Native American tribes throughout the United States,” the statement went on. “But as the video clearly states, there is one denigrating term which Native peoples never use to describe themselves: R*dskin.”

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