Each one had a different example of how it actually affected them. I’m indigenous, and matter of fact, I love that team.” And then the other people on the panel just laid into him. We sat down and one of them said, “This is America, you can say what you want. The first thing we did was talk to a panel of Athabaskan tribe members in Alaska. It’s very hard to question things that you love. When he said, “Dad, isn’t that racist?” I started to say all the things that I had been programmed to say-all these PR things. I’m now handing this love and this bond down to my son, Otis. Q &A with Donick Cary Bostonia: When did you start to question Washington’s team name?ĭonick Cary: Football was a way that my father and I bonded. He hopes to complete his film Hail to the Breadsticks! in time for a spring 2022 festival premiere. With the Atlanta Braves playing in the 2021 World Series this week-and their fans tomahawk-chopping in the stands-Cary spoke with Bostonia about what he’s learned from the people most hurt by such stereotypical depictions. But hundreds, if not thousands, of professional, collegiate, and high school teams continue to use Native American–inspired names. Since Cary and his son began their film, Washington has dropped its name-becoming, temporarily, the generic Washington Football Team-as did Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians (now Cleveland Guardians). Cary and Oyis set out to talk with Native Americans across the country about the team’s name, including Haaland, who is now the US Secretary of the Interior (right). Focusing a wide lens on the subject also sparked a personal reckoning: Cary stripped his game room of memorabilia and even began to reevaluate some of his work, like lines he wrote for the character Apu on The Simpsons.Ĭary and his son, Otis, with then-Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) after interviewing her for their film (left). They set out to ask Native Americans across the country how the team’s name had affected them. Then, during a game four years ago, his eight-year-old son, Otis, asked, “Dad, isn’t this racist?”Ī difficult conversation followed-and then Cary and his son decided to educate themselves. He installed three televisions and covered the walls with memorabilia bearing the team’s name and Native American–inspired logo. As an adult, he converted his shed into a game room. But now the comedian-turned-documentarian is tackling a sensitive subject: appropriated and downright racist sports team names and mascots.Ĭary (CGS’88) grew up watching Washington Redskins games with his dad. Donick Cary wrote for David Letterman and helped to produce the Emmy Award–winning comedies The Simpsons and Parks and Recreation.
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