Via ThinkProgress:
Washington’s football team won’t be playing in Super Bowl XLIX this weekend. But in the days before the NFL’s biggest game kicks off in Glendale, Ariz., Native American activists and organizers in a state that has 21 recognized tribes will hold multiple events that both challenge the team’s “Redskins” name and tie the stereotypes perpetuated by it to one of the most pressing issues facing the NFL this season: domestic violence.
Saturday, a coalition of Native American groups, grassroots organizations, and activists will hold a vigil in Phoenix’s Civil Space Park to memorialize missing and murdered indigenous women, according to the event’s Facebook page. The next day, on Super Bowl Sunday, they will march and rally in downtown Phoenix to draw attention to harmful effects of Native American stereotypes when it comes to violence against Native women, who face domestic violence and sexual assault at higher rates than other communities.
The NFL’s much-criticized handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case has put that issue next to the league’s name in the news throughout the year, giving organizers one reason to focus on it especially. But the primary aim of the event is to make it clear that the fight with Washington isn’t merely about a name, but about the broader implications of Native American mascots, especially as supporters of the name have argued that activists should focus on bigger problems facing Native people (Washington owner Dan Snyder is among those who have made such claims).