The firm of Kanji & Katzen PLLC has answered the call of the Seattle Human Rights Commission and voted to boycott the D.C. N.F.L. team’s key corporate sponsors until the team’s name changes. This includes ceasing use of FedEx in the firm’s two offices, and closing the firm’s accounts at Bank of America.
Many people remain unaware that at one time in American history Native Americans were hunted, killed, and redeemed for bounties. Native scalps, skin, and other body parts of women, children, and men served as proof of the bounty kill; hence the name “r*dskins.”
As documented by the Human Rights Commission, the continued use of this horrific term by the team has divided the American people, exacerbated tensions between Native Americans and non-Natives, and increased discriminatory acts against Native Americans. Any dictionary you can find defines the term as offensive or a slur, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially deemed the term disparaging and thus ineligible for a trademark. A psychological report on the impacts of the team name confirms that it causes direct damage to the mental and physical health of Native people, and cautions that the term “may cause stress among the nation as a whole” in much the same way the observation of bullying has a detrimental psychological effect on bystanders.
Kanji & Katzen has always worked to advance and protect the rights of Native people, and so it was a natural step for the firm’s members to advance indigenous human rights by approving the boycott. Individual employees of the firm have also made personal pledges to boycott team sponsors by signing the “Boycott D.C. N.F.L. Team Sponsors until the Name is Changed” change.org petition. So far the petition has garnered 100 signatures.
The firm’s announcement on Monday prompted other law firms to join the boycott. Kewenvoyouma Law and Skenandore Law out of Arizona signed on immediately. By mid-week, Seattle-based Galanda Broadman and the Alaska office of Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson & Perry, LLP had joined the boycott. The boycott is under review by a number of other law firms nationwide, and more announcements of support are expected to follow.
On Thursday, the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and largest representative organization of Native Nations in the United States, issued a letter of support for the Seattle Human Rights Commission’s Resolution No. 15-01 calling for the boycott among City of Seattle residents and businesses, as well as by the City of Seattle itself. Kanji & Katzen associate, Ethel Branch, serves as Seattle Human Rights Commission Co-Chair.
You can view NCAI’s letter here: NCAI’s Letter
You can view the Seattle Human Rights Commission’s Resolution No. 15-01 here: Seattle Human Rights Commission’s Resolution No. 15-01
You can access the change.org petition here: https://www.change.org/p/dan-snyder-boycott-d-c-n-f-l-team-sponsors-until-the-name-is-changed
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