By Terumi Rafferty-Osaki and Rebecca DeWolf, Ph.D.
On September 25, 2014 of the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, beat reporter Jason Jones interviewed fans of the Washington Redskins on one panel and a group of Native American activists on another. During the last few moments, Jones brought both panels together to create more of a dialogue. Long-time fan Maurice Hawkins, however, protested the move; he argued that he would not have worn his Redskins jacket had he known about the upcoming encounter.[1] This segment also came on the heals of the South Park episode, “Go Fund Yourself,” a satire that questioned the use of the Redskins name to promote a new start up company. During the episode, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone made light of the fact that the US Patent and Trademark Office canceled the Washington Redskins’ trademark registration this past June. These are only a few examples of the firestorm over the decades-long struggle to change the Redskins team name.