White House official reportedly gets in brawl with Native American student wearing Redskins jersey

A fan wearing a Redskins team jersey is accusing a White House official of beating him up.
(Image credit: oug Pensinger/Allsport/Getty Images)

A Native American college student and the executive director of the White House Initiative of American Indian and Alaska Native Education allegedly got into a brawl at a pow-wow in Washington, D.C., over the student's Redskins jersey, News 9 reports. While the men's accounts of who started the incident differ entirely, both agree that punches were thrown.

Barrett Dahl, of Oklahoma, is a member of the Choctaw, Sac, and Fox Nations, and "says he wore the Redskins shirt because he was in Washington, D.C., and because he sees it as a sense of cultural pride," News 9 reports. Dahl, who is autistic, alleges that White House official William Mendoza approached him at the pow-wow and said, "You're a 'weetard' for not understanding 'Redskins' is offensive."

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.