In the midst of Donald Sterling being banned from the NBA for life, the topic of Redskins as a nickname for the NFL team in D.C. has ratcheted up a bit.
Fletcher who appeared this week on NBC’s “SportsDash,” was asked about the Redskins name issue in the context of Donald Sterling, and whether it was a distraction for him.
“You know, I spent seven years in Washington and hadn’t really thought a whole lot about it until this past season,” Fletcher said. “You heard more about it in the news, more things were coming out about it. So I started to really look at it, and started to kind of take hold and get a true understanding of what the word Redskin meant. Get a history lesson, in a sense. And I started feeling a little bit uneasy about it. Voiced my concern to General Manager Bruce Allen, and suggested that Mr. Snyder, the owner, should go and speak with some of the Native Americans, just to get their thoughts on it, to find out how they truly feel about the name.”
Fletcher is retired now, and transitioning into a career as an analyst. It’s convenient for him to be outraged now at this point.