Featured speaker: Dahkota Franklin Kicking Bear Brown, Student, Argonaut High School; Champion for Change, Center for Native American Youth The debate over the Washington football team's racist name and mascot has reached a fevered pitch in recent months. But too much of the debate has missed the point. It is not just about a name, a logo, a business, or a matter of intent. Racist and derogatory team names have a real and harmful impact on American Indian and Alaska Native, or AI/AN, people every day, particularly young people. The Center for American Progress will release a new report examining the research about the harmful impact of these representations on the self-esteem of AI/AN youth, how they create a hostile learning environments in K-12 and postsecondary schools, and the decades-long movement to retire them. It will also propose new recommendations to local, state, and federal education agencies to transform learning environments that are hostile and unwelcoming to AI/AN students and their families into ones that are supportive.

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