Thursday, August 07, 2014

No, Sir! (we won't take your money edition)

This is the kind of spunk I really like:
A Native American tribe on the Arizona-California border trying to raise $250,000 for a skate park has refused funding from the Original Americans Foundation, a group started earlier this year by owner Daniel Snyder in response to ongoing opposition to a name regarded by many as a slur.

“No, we’re not going to accept any kind of monetary offer to side with allowing them to utilize the inappropriate name for this NFL team,” Quechan tribal president Keeny Escalanti Sr. told the AP.

“The sacrifice we took to say no wasn’t an easy one,” Escalanti added.  “We wish we could help the kids today by taking the partnership. We’re trying to teach our community and the youth that we can do things the right way.  We don’t have to accept this type of money from these people.”

...Thus, the tribe rejected an offer from the Original Americans Foundation to pay for the entire park, issuing the following statement to the Republic:  “We will not align ourselves with an organization to ­simply become a statistic in their fight for name acceptance in ­Native communities
...We know bribe money when we see it.”

Oh, snap.

There are more details if you hit the link, and man, they're embarrassing for Dan Snyder, not that he seems to care. His ignorance and the degree to which he is tone deaf about what he says is quite spectacular, even by "rich white guy" standards.

I went to the website for the skate park and made a donation. What they're trying to do is a good thing for kids, and I respect that they refused to compromise their principles. If you feel the same way, or just want to read about the skate park, here's the link: Quechan Memorial Skatepark.

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