Sidwell Friends School, the elite private school attended by the Obama daughters as well as children of other Washington elites, is banning Washington Redskins merchandise for the upcoming school year.
In a resolution released to the student body, the student government noted that “the mascot of the District’s National Football League team is offensive and antithetical to the values of the community.”
In the resolution, the student government noted that the school’s origins in the Quaker movement influenced their decision and that the goal of the Redskins ban is to “enforce a culture of respect for minority voices” within the school community.
The release refers to Sidwell as “an elite, privileged institution” (school fees run close to $40,000 a year) and states that the student government hopes that the resolution will encourage “students to think about offensive encounters in their daily lives.”
A poll released by the Washington Post on May 19 found that only 9 percent of Native Americans find the moniker offensive. The resolution bans clothing and other merchandise featuring both the written name and the mascot symbol of the Redskins.