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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Was Washington Redskins Namesake a Native American Imposter?

    For 20 years, Native Americans and others have been trying to get the NFL's Washington Redskins to change the team's name. But the owner, Dan Snyder, says it's meant to honor the team's first coach, Lone Star Dietz, who claimed to belong to the Sioux Nation.

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    For 20 years, Native Americans and others have been trying to get the NFL's Washington Redskins to change the team's name. But the owner, Dan Snyder, says it's meant to honor the team's first coach, Lone Star Dietz, who claimed to belong to the Sioux Nation. President Obama has joined the debate over the name saying, if he were the owner and it offended "a sizeable group of people, he'd change it…even if it had a storied history." Well, it does have a storied history all right, but the story itself might not be true. Richard Lieby has covered it for the Washington Post, since it first became controversial.

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Evan George

      Director of Content, News

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Anna Scott

      Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Gideon Brower

      Independent Producer

    • KCRW placeholder

      Richard Leiby

      Wall Street Journal

      NewsNationalPolitics
    Back to To the Point