I can't believe the lamesteam media has ignored the epiphany that came to the owner of the Washington football team a couple of days ago.
He has realized that without the African-American communities in this nation, he would not be able to field a football team. While he would always have a venue for a stadium, because the dirt was stolen from Indians so long ago nobody cares, he still cannot compete without players.
He has always honored his players with his team name, but the statement he put out recently shows he's moving beyond symbolism to substance.
Therefore, I reproduce the entire statement below, and challenge all of the media in this great country to explain what it really means to honor a people. Appropriating their image to represent you is just the beginning....
March 24, 2014
To Everyone in our Washington Niggers Nation:
Several months ago I wrote you about my personal reflections on our team name and on our shared Washington Niggers heritage. I wrote then -- and believe even more firmly now
-- that our team name captures the best of who we are and who we can be, by staying true to our history and honoring the deep and enduring values our name represents.
In that letter, I committed myself to listening and learning from all voices with a perspective about our Washington Niggers name. I've been encouraged by the thousands of fans across the country who support keeping the Niggers tradition alive. Most -- by overwhelming majorities -- find our name to be rooted in pride for our shared heritage and values.
"There are African Americans everywhere that 100% support the name," South Central Improvement Association Chairwoman Shanice L. Jackson told me when I came to visit her neighborhood. "I believe God has turned this around for something good." She told me that it was far more important for us to focus on the challenges of education in African-American communities. I listened closely, and pledged to her that I would find ways to improve the daily lives of people in her neighborhood.
What would my resolve to honoring our legacy mean if I myself -- as the owner of and a passionate believer in the Washington Niggers -- didn't stay true to my word? I wanted and needed to hear firsthand what African Americans truly thought of our name, our logo, and whether we were, in fact, upholding the principle of respect in regard to the African-American community.
So over the past four months, my staff and I traveled to 26 African-American neighborhoods in major cities across twenty states to listen and learn first-hand about the views, attitudes, and experiences of the brothers and sisters. We were invited into their homes, their fish fries and their communities to learn more about the extraordinary daily challenges in their lives.
"I appreciated your sincerity to learn about our culture and the real-life issues we face on a daily basis," Southwestern Atlanta spokesman Jamal Shuttlesworth told us after we toured his projects. "I look forward to working together with you to improve the lives of African Americans in any way possible."
The more I heard, the more I've learned, and the more I saw, the more resolved I became about helping to address the challenges that plague the African-American community. In speaking face-to-face with African-American leaders and community members, it's plain to see they need action, not words.
Yes, some black folks are doing well. And in our candid conversations, we learned that we share so much with their soulful culture. We find their appreciation of history, legacy, caring for their elders and providing a better future for their youth inspirational and admirable.
But the fact is, too many African-American communities face much harsher, much more alarming realities. They have genuine issues they truly are worried about, and our team's name is not one of them. Here are just a few staggering, heartbreaking facts about the challenges facing African Americans today:
-- The official poverty rate in African-American neighborhoods is 27.4 percent, as determined by the U.S. Census. Over 33 percent of African-American families with children are below the poverty line on, compared with 9 percent of families nationally. Jobs are scarce, and so is genuine opportunity.
-- Rampant diabetes, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, and heightened suicide rates afflict African-American youth, adults, and veterans. Life expectancies in high poverty African-American communities are the lowest anywhere in the Western Hemisphere -- except for American Indian reservations and Haiti.
-- African-American neighborhoods only have access to drinking water and wastewater disposal because they are located within our major cities but within those cities African-American neighborhoods can lack even the most basic infrastructure that most Americans take for granted, particularly adequate transportation to good jobs and adequate educational institutions to prepare people for good jobs. It is hard to build for a better tomorrow without the basic needs of today.
These aren't rare circumstances. These are the unfortunate facts found throughout African-American neighborhoods today.
I've listened. I've learned. And frankly, its heart wrenching. It's not enough to celebrate the values and heritage of African-Americans. We must do more.
I want to do more. I believe the Washington Niggers community should commit to making a real, lasting, positive impact on African-American quality of life -- one hood and one person at a time. I know we won't be able to fix every problem. But we need to make an impact.
And so I will take action.
As loyal fans of the Washington Niggers, I want you to know that tomorrow I will announce the creation of the Washington Niggers No More Slavery in America Foundation.
The mission of the Foundation is to provide meaningful and measurable resources that provide genuine opportunities for black communities. With open arms and determined minds, we will work as partners to begin to tackle the troubling realities facing so many neighborhoods across our country. Our efforts will address the urgent challenges plaguing de facto segregated African-American neighborhoods based on what black leaders tell us they need most. We may have created this new organization, but the direction of the Foundation is truly theirs.
Our work is already underway, under the leadership of Jamal Franklin, a one eighth blood quantum black man who served in the administration of the first black President, Bill Clinton.
Because I'm so serious about the importance of this cause, I began our efforts quietly and respectfully, away from the spotlight, to learn and take direction from black leaders themselves. In addition to traveling and meeting in-person with African-American communities, we took a survey of brothers and sisters across 100 hoods so that we could have an accurate assessment of the most pressing needs in each community.
The stories I heard and the experiences I witnessed were of children without winter coats or athletic shoes; students in makeshift classrooms without adequate school supplies; text books more than decades old; rampant and unnecessary suffering from preventable diseases like diabetes; economic hardship almost everywhere; and in too many places too few of the tools and technology that we all take for granted every day -- computers, internet access, even cellphone coverage.
In the heart of America's most historic cities, poverty is everywhere. That's not acceptable. We have so much, yet too many African-Americans have so little.
Our work has already begun:
-- As the bitter Arctic winds swept across the Plains this winter, we distributed over 3,000 cold-weather coats to several hoods, as well as shoes to players on boys and girls basketball teams. "It's been one of the coldest winters on record," Dudley Heights Neighborhood Association Vice Chairman Jermaine Wilson told me. "The entire community is so appreciative of the coats we received for our youth and elders. It’s been such a great relationship, and we hope it grows."
-- We assisted in the purchase of a new recording studio for the Compton Neighborhood of Los Angeles, offering local teenagers the opportunity to learn the ropes of the entertainment business where so many African-Americans have thrived.
These projects were the first of many and we currently have over forty additional projects currently in process. We look forward to telling you more about these as our work proceeds.
For too long, the struggles of African Americans have been ignored, unnoticed and unresolved. As a team, we have honored them through our words and on the field, but now we will honor them through our actions. We commit to the hoods that we stand together with you, to help you build a brighter future for your communities.
The Washington Niggers No More Slavery in America Foundation will serve as a living, breathing legacy -- and an ongoing reminder -- of the heritage and tradition that is the Washington Niggers. I'm glad to be able to launch this vital initiative today.
With Respect and Appreciation,
Dan Snyder
P.S. Throughout this journey, there have been many incredible moments. One of my favorite fan moments took place in Harlem -- to the cheers of dozens of Washington Niggers fans. As Harlem community organizer DeShawn Yancy noted, "We even had an unprompted welcoming party of Washington Niggers fans from Eastchester in The Bronx and Stuyvesant Heights in Brooklyn greet you when you departed from the airport!" The passion and support for the Burgundy and Gold throughout the country has been overwhelming.