The Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation is off to a rocky start.
USA TODAY Sports reported Friday night that the Native American Gaming Association has pulled its sponsorship of a charity golf tournament in Arizona because it doesn't want to be affiliated with Redskins owner Daniel Snyder's newly created foundation, the tournament's title sponsor.
According to USA TODAY Sports, the Native American Gaming Association, which is a non-profit organization that consists of 184 Indian nations as members, decided to withdraw from event sponsorship on Friday after learning that the Redskins foundation also was involved in the golf event.
Ernest Stevens, chairman of the Native American Gaming Association, told USA TODAY Sports that his organization finds the Washington NFL team name to be offensive and says Snyder's motives in creating the foundation are highly questionable.
"It's a blatant attempt to try to buy out the issue," Stevens told USA TODAY Sports.
The celebrity golf tournament in Chandler, Ariz., benefits Native American college students. It's the kind of event Snyder said his foundation would target. The team's website, which announced the creation of the foundation last month, stated that the foundation's focus would be "to tackle the troubling realities facing so many tribes across our country."
In the release on the Redskins website, Snyder wrote, "Several months ago I wrote you about my personal reflections on our team name and on our shared Washington Redskins 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."
Stevens wasn't buying it.
"It hurts my heart to have to say that word," said Stevens, who declined to reveal the amount of the sponsorship involved.
The Native American Gaming Association's mission statement says its duty is to "protect and preserve the general welfare of tribes striving for self-sufficiency through gaming enterprises in Indian Country,"
USA TODAY Sports reported that neither the golf tournament organizers nor the Redskins returned phone calls seeking comment on the sponsorship withdrawal.
Was the Native American Gaming Association justified in withdrawing its sponsorship? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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