Haskell announces 2016 commencement speaker, known for work opposing American Indian sports mascots

photo by: contributed photo

Amanda Blackhorse, a Haskell Indian Nations University and Kansas University graduate, is the lead plaintiff in Blackhorse et al v. Pro-Football Inc.

A Haskell Indian Nations University graduate who prominently took on the name of the Washington Redskins pro football team will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Haskell commencement.

Amanda Blackhorse, with four other American Indians, filed the lawsuit that led to the June 2014 decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to cancel the NFL team’s trademark registration, calling it disparaging to American Indians.

photo by: contributed photo

Amanda Blackhorse, a Haskell Indian Nations University and Kansas University graduate, is the lead plaintiff in Blackhorse et al v. Pro-Football Inc.

The widely publicized decision was the result of an eight-year legal process, according to national media reports. The Blackhorse case sprung from a similar effort going even further back, Harjo et al v. Pro-Football Inc., that was filed in 1992 but lost on appeal 17 years later.

Haskell announced Blackhorse as its commencement speaker on Wednesday.

A member of the Navajo Nation, Blackhorse is from Big Mountain and Kayenta, Ariz., according to Haskell.

She received her associate’s degree from Haskell in 2004 and went on to graduate from Kansas University’s School of Social Welfare in 2006. She received a master’s of social work from Washington University in St. Louis in 2009 and now is a licensed independent clinical social worker handling behavioral health in the Gila River Indian Community in Laveen, Ariz.

While the 2014 Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision did not force the team to change its name, supporters hope it will strengthen the argument to do so.

“It is a great victory for Native Americans and for all Americans,” Blackhorse said in a statement published by The Washington Post in 2014. “I hope this ruling brings us a step closer to that inevitable day when the name of the Washington football team will be changed.”

In the past year, Blackhorse co-founded the group Arizona to Rally Against Native Mascots. The group describes its mission as advocating “for the elimination of Native American mascots and logos in schools and professional sports,” including the Kansas City Chiefs.

She also speaks nationally about how colonization and “historical trauma” contributed to such mascots, according to Haskell.

Haskell commencement is planned for 10 a.m. to noon May 6 at Coffin Sports Complex, 155 Indian Ave. on the Haskell campus.

In 2015, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell visited the Haskell campus and gave the commencement address.