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ICT interviews Olympian Billy Mills on racist mascots in sports

Monday, November 11, 2013

Indian Country Today interviews Olympian Billy Mills about his opposition to the use of racist mascots in sports:

From your own personal perspective, what were your reasons for joining the Minneapolis protest?
I think my reason is because it’s time to change. It’s time for America to move on.
It’s time for those individuals and those teams who think they’re honoring us to recognize that we bring honor to ourselves and our tribal nations. In honoring our tribal nations, we bring honor to America. I think it’s time for the owner of the Washington Redskins, for example, to bring honor to himself -- by changing the name of the Washington Redskins.
That’s not just the Washington team, but extending to other pro or college teams that have Native mascots?
Washington Redskins is among the most vulgar for us. You just look in the history books. In Minnesota and some of the other states, the tribes whose lands were in those states now, there were bounties paid. X number of dollars if you brought in a female scalp of a Redskin. X number of dollars if it were a child. X number of dollars if it were an adult man. That is part of our history, and that was part of the demise of 12 million to 23 million Indian people within the boundaries of the United States now. We have our own holocaust. We have to move beyond that.

Get the Story:
Billy Mills: Redskins Name Calls to Mind 'Our Own Holocaust' (Indian Country Today 11/9)