By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – The editorial board of the Washington Post has decided to no longer use the word “Redskins” when referring to Washington’s professional football team in opinion articles. The board stated that the term degrades Native Americans and was the reasoning behind their decision.

Washington Post’s editorial board operates separately from the news staff and controls only the paper’s opinion pages. The Post’s newsgathering side will continue to use the Redskins name.

The Post’s editorial board stated, “We have decided that, except when it is essential for clarity or effect, we will no longer use the slur ourselves,” and continued to state, “that’s the standard we apply to all offensive vocabulary, and the team name unquestionably offends not only many Native Americans but many other Americans, too.” The board also made it a point to state that it did not think that fans who supported the team’s name had racist feelings towards Native Americans.

Opposition to the name has been extant since the 1960’s. However, the campaign has recently taken off as a result of efforts made by the Oneida Indian Nation. Ray Halbritter, the representative of the New York State tribe, and Jacqueline Pata, the executive director of the National Congress of American Indians calls the Post’s decision, “appropriate and honorable.”

The owner of the Washington Redskins, Daniel Snyder, who bought the team in 1999, has refused to change the name, and says that he honors Native Americans. Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner and a group of Redskins players have voiced their support for Snyder’s opposition to change the team’s name. Snyder has come under pressure from U.S. Senators, journalists, newspapers, and the President to change the team’s name.

In June, the U.S. patent office cancelled six of the trademarks belonging to the Redskins, due to their finding that the team name is a slur against Native Americans, thus making it ineligible for trademark protection. The team has decided to appeal the patent office’s decision, which would ultimately force the franchise to drop the team’s name.

 

For information, please see the following:

BBC – Washington Post Editorial Board abandons ‘Redskins’ – 22 August 2014.

NEW YORK TIMES – Washington Post Editorial Board No Longer Using Word ‘Redskins’ – 22 August 2014.

REUTERS – Washington Post Editorial Board No Longer Using Word ‘Redskins’ – 22 August 2014. 

WASHINGTON POST – Washington Post Editorial Board Stops Using the Word ‘Redskins’ – 22 August 2014.

 

 

 

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America – On the fourth night proceeding the fatal shooting of a Missouri teenager, Michael Brown, what community members considered mostly peaceful protests were met with extreme police violence. The protests began after Brown was shot and killed by a local police officer.

The police violence came in the form of tear gas, rubber bullets, heavily armed SWAT teams and mine-resistant vehicles. Reports indicate that the police force zeroed in on a mostly peaceful protest in Ferguson, Missouri, where protesters were seen symbolically holding their hands in the air, the same gesture Brown was believed to be doing when he was shot by an unidentified officer. In an effort to disperse the crowd of protestors, a group of at least 70 armed SWAT officers fired smoke bombs so regularly that it made it difficult to breath.

The racially charged protests in Ferguson, which have resulted in a military-style police crackdown, resulted in the arrests of numerous demonstrators and at least two journalists. A news crew from the TV network Al Jazeera America reported that tear gas and rubber bullets were fired in the proximity of the crew, and later released a statement expressing the incident’s impact on constitutional rights, “Al Jazeera is stunned by this egregious assault on freedom of the press that was clearly intended to have a chilling effect on our ability to cover this important story.”

President Barack Obama made his first statement regarding the protests on Thursday, 14 August, condemning the violent tactics used on both sides of the ongoing protests. Obama acknowledged the constitutional issues with the police crackdown, stating, “There’s…no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests or to throw protestors in jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights,” he continued by stating, ”Here in the United States of America, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs and report to the American people on what they see….”  The President also acknowledged that those demonstrators whom engaged in violence against the police, specifically those who were said to have thrown rocks and Molotov cocktails, and used this time of unrest as an excuse for violence, vandalism, and looting were equally as wrong as the police.

Obama concluded by calling for a calm in Ferguson, Missouri, saying that now is not the time for unrest, instead it is time for an, “open and transparent process to make sure that justice is done.”

 

For more information, please see the following: 

BUSINESS INSIDER –  Obama: There’s ‘No Excuse’ For Police To Use Excessive Force In Ferguson – 14 August 2014.

HUFFINGTON POST – Obama On Ferguson: ‘ No Excuse For Police To Use Excessive Force – 14 August 2014.

HUFFINGTON POST – Ferguson Protests Met With Heavy Police Response, 2 Reporters And Alderman Arrested – 14 August 2014.

NBC NEWS – “No Excuse’: Obama Expressed Concern About Violence In Missouri – 14 August 2014.

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – On Saturday, 9 August 2014, U.S Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Myanmar’s political leaders on Washington’s human rights concerns. Kerry, who was in Myanmar’s capital for the ASEAN Regional Forum, met President Thein Sein and urged him to step up constitutional reforms in order to prepare for next years elections.

Myanmar has struggled with human rights issues, including sectarian violence in Rakhine state, where access to humanitarian aid has been denied to more than 140,000 displaced people, most of whom are Rohingya Muslims. Most people in Myanmar refuse to acknowledge the Rohingya as a group belonging to Myanmar, instead referring to them as “Bengalis,” implying that they are immigrants from Bangladesh and thus not entitled to Myanmar citizenship. The Rohingya are denied most rights that citizens of Myanmar are privy to including freedom of movement and access to health care.

The United States has promised to ease sanctions on Myanmar if the process of democratic reform and respect for human rights advances. U.S officials have acknowledged significant changes in Myanmar since its political transition in 2011 from military rule, however some officials have accused Myanmar authorities of falling short on commitments to protect human rights, including issues such as freedom of press and constitutional reforms.

Kerry reaffirmed American support for the reform process in Myanmar on Saturday. Additionally, he raised issues of concern to Washington. Some of these issues included: the minority Muslim Rohingya community, the designation of the term “Bengali,” the need for changes in the constitution  put in place by a pre-reform military government, the necessity of addressing religious intolerance and press freedoms.

Kerry said that Thein showed no resistance to discussing the issues. Kerry also warned the leaders of Myanmar that a significant improvement in its democratic transition and a solid commitment to improve human rights is required to advance Myanmar’s relations with the United States.

 

 For more information, please see the following: 

ABC NEWS – Kerry Pressed Myanmar on Democratic Reform – 9 August 2014.

FOX NEWS – Kerry Urges Myanmar to Speed Democratic Transition, Halt Rights Backslide – 9 August 2014.

REUTERS – U.S.’s Kerry Pressed Myanmar leaders on Human Rights, Reforms – 9 August 2014.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL –  U.S. Backs Myanmar Reforms, No Threat to Resume Sanctions – 9 August 2014.