Washington NFL team owner Dan Snyder with fans. Photo from Original Americans Foundation
The owner of the Washington NFL team won't budge on the franchise's racist mascot because he grew up as a fan, according to a new book. Dan Snyder is motivated by "fandom," NFL writer Mike Freeman asserts in Two Minute Warning: How Concussions, Crime, and Controversy Could Kill the NFL (And What the League Can Do to Survive)
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The owner refuses to eliminate the name even though Indian activists, nearly every major Indian organization and dozens of tribes consider it to be offensive and derogatory.
"People like Snyder who grew up fans of the team protect the nickname because it has become a part of their identity," Freeman writes in an excerpt that was published on The Bleacher Report. "It's part of who they are, how they see themselves. And though deep in their core they know the nickname is wrong and offensive, some fight to protect it because they see it is a part of history, their history."
Snyder has famously said he will "NEVER" change the name. Freeman believes the mascot will stay around as long as possible, regardless of how others feel about it.
"The racist nickname will have to be pried—to borrow a phrase—from his cold, dead hands," Freeman writes.
Get the Story:Book Excerpt: Daniel Snyder and the Unreal Power of NFL Owners (The Bleacher Report 10/13)
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