Classy.
RED MESA, Ariz. — The fans poured into the bleachers on a Friday night, erupting in “Let’s go, Redskins!” chants that echoed across a new field of artificial turf, glowing green against a vast dun-colored landscape.
Inside the Red Mesa High School locker room, Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” blared on the stereo as players hurried to strap on their helmets and gather for a pregame prayer and pep talk.
“This is your time, right?” the team’s assistant coach demanded.
“Yes, sir!” the players shouted. “Redskins on three! Redskins on three! One, two, three, Redskins!”
The scene at this tiny, remote high school was as boisterous as it was remarkable: Nearly everyone on the field and in the bleachers belongs to the Navajo Nation. Most of the people in Red Mesa not only reject claims that their team’s nickname is a slur, they have emerged as a potent symbol in the heated debate over the name of the more widely known Redskins — Washington’s NFL team. More than half the school’s 220 students eagerly accepted free tickets from the team for an Oct. 12 game near Phoenix, where they confronted Native American protesters who were there to condemn Washington’s moniker. […]
At the game, some Red Mesa students said they were taunted by protesters for wearing free Washington Redskins hats and T-shirts.
In one video posted on her Facebook page, Blackhorse stood outside the football stadium slamming Red Mesa’s administrators.
“We want to let our children know who are being used today,” she said, “that we are here for them. We are not going to disparage them . . . because they don’t know any better. The adults in that school should know better, and they are not informed of this issue — and shame on them for that,” Blackhorse told a large group of supporters, some holding signs with the Redskins logo and the words “Game Over.”