TULSA, Okla. (AP) – The Osage Nation in Oklahoma is boycotting global shipping company FedEx due to its relationship with the Washington Reds***s and calling on other tribes to do the same, saying the NFL team’s name is derogatory to people of American Indian descent.
Until the name of the football team is changed to something “less inflammatory and insulting,” employees of the 18,500-member tribe should refrain from using FedEx when an alternative is available, according to the directive issued Tuesday by Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear.
The chief noted that the National Congress of American Indians also has asked FedEx to reevaluate its involvement with the team, which plays at FedEx Field in suburban Washington, D.C. The directive states that the name “is derived from a horrible former practice of removing the skin of Native people for the purpose of collecting bounties.”
Assistant Principal Chief Raymond Red Corn declined to comment Wednesday, saying the language in the two-page order spoke for itself. The directive comes as various human rights groups, lawmakers and representatives of some tribes urge the team’s ownership to change the name, calling it derogatory to American Indians.
FedEx spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald said Wednesday that the company values its sponsorship of the stadium, noting that the facility hosts a range of sporting and entertainment events. He said the company has closely followed the “dialogue and difference of opinion” concerning the team name, but directed further questions on the issue to the team.
A team spokesman didn’t return a message Wednesday. But in a recent interview, Reds***s spokesman Tony Wyllie said the franchise believed that most Americans didn’t support changing the name.
The Osage Nation, which is based in Pawhuska, appears to be the first tribe in Oklahoma to call for a FedEx boycott. Representatives for the Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma’s largest American Indian tribe, and the Chickasaw Nation said they were unaware of discussions about launching similar efforts against the company.
