Thousands of Native Americans chanted in protest against the Washington Redskins name outside the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium Sunday, where the team will play the Minnesota Vikings. (McKenna Ewen and Divya Jeswani Verma/The Washington Post) 
 
 Thousands of Native Americans chanted in protest against the Washington Redskins name outside the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium Sunday, where the team will play the Minnesota Vikings. (McKenna Ewen and Divya Jeswani Verma/The Washington Post) 
 
 — At what was hailed by organizers as the largest-ever protest of the Washington Redskins’ name, a group of Native Americans stood outside the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium in a plaza built as a tribute to 11 of the state’s tribes. A man in the middle held up a sign painted in bold black letters: “RACIST.” 
 
 For more than an hour Sunday, hundreds of Washington Redskins fans on their way to the game against the Minnesota Vikings shuffled past the voices of condemnation, some with their Redskins’ caps stuffed in their pockets and their jerseys covered by zipped up jackets. 
 
 “Who are we?” the demonstrators yelled. “Not your mascots!” 
 
 On a broad grassy patch behind them, a throng of Native Americans, students and other activists chanted, sang, banged drums and waved banners: “Change the Name Now” and “Stop Racism in the NFL.” University of Minnesota police put the estimated crowd at 3,500 to 4,000. Organizers estimated it at 5,000. 
 
 More than two dozen speakers from across the country addressed the noisy but peaceful gathering. They consider the Redskins moniker deeply offensive, while team owner Daniel Snyder argues that it honors Native Americans and has vowed never to change it. 
 
 1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Protesters march outside stadium before Redskins game against Minnesota View Photos Native American groups and other activists decried the use of the team’s mascot and its imagery. Caption Native American groups and other activists decried the use of the team’s mascot and its imagery. Nov. 2, 2014 Native Americans protest the Redskins�? name outside the stadium in Minneapolis before the team played the Minnesota Vikings. John McDonnell/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 The interactions between protesters and Redskins fans never turned violent, but they were often tense and sometimes profane. 
 
 Samuel Wounded Knee, 35, a Crow Creek Sioux with square shoulders and long dark hair, carried a sign that read “Wake Up Snyder” and confronted nearly every Redskins fan he saw, cursing at one who cut through the rally and taunted protesters. 
 
 “We don’t want to be your mascot,” he yelled. “My son doesn’t want to be your mascot.” 
 
 Nearby, his 3-year-old sat on the grass in a maroon-and-yellow shirt that hung down to his ankles and said simply on its front: “REPLACE.” 
 
 Preparations for the rally were underway for months, with organizers determined to make it even larger than one held more than two decades ago. In 1992, when the Buffalo Bills played Washington in the only Super Bowl hosted in Minnesota, an estimated 3,000 demonstrators turned out at the now-demolished Metrodome to denounce the team’s name. 
 
 Last November, when the Vikings hosted the Redskins for the first time since 2007 at the Metrodome, more than 700 people protested outside. But the debate about the name has grown much more intense over the past year, with a parade of Native American leaders, lawmakers, civil rights activists and sports commentators condemning it. 
 
 The name retains its support among a majority of Americans, with 71 percent saying it should not be changed in a poll conducted for ESPN in September. How the nation’s 5.2 million Native Americans feel is impossible to know. A 2004 Annenberg Public Policy Center poll found that 9 out of 10 Native Americans were not offended by the moniker, but that survey is now 10 years old, and many activists question its methodology. 
 
 On Sunday, the speakers were united in their opinion. 
 
 “We are here to tell the NFL there is no honor in a racial slur,” Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) told the demonstrators. “Here in Minnesota, we have 11 proud tribal nations, but only 150 years ago, their ancestors, men and women, elders and children, were hunted and murdered for profit. This was a government-funded policy of genocide. The pain of this brutal and shameful history is still with us.” 
 
 She said, “If there is any decency in the NFL, the time is now — change the mascot.” 
 
 Vikings fan Larry Gibson, 54, a factory worker from St. Paul, Minn., was dismissive of the rally as he paused to watch, expressing his disgust to a Redskins fan beside him. 
 
 “It could be the Vikings next, who knows?” Gibson said. 
 
 Tony Cansler, who wore a custom Redskins jersey along with a Redskins hat, ear muffs and mittens, shook his head. 
 
 “I mean, how far do you go with this, you know?” he replied. 
 
 Cansler, a 53-year-old maintenance worker, had driven six hours from his home in Iowa to watch his beloved Redskins play. 
 
 “To me, the name is respectful,” he said. Native Americans “should take pride in the name.” 
 
 Controversy had swirled around the Vikings game since August because of demands by the University of Minnesota to limit use of the Washington team’s name and logo inside the stadium. But university administrators insisted that they could not dictate behavior to the Vikings organization, which is paying the university $300,000 a game to use the stadium while its new facility in Minneapolis is being built. 
 
 After the protest – as the public address announcer bellowed the name over and over inside the stadium – a school official told a group of reporters that the Vikings had ignored their repeated requests. 
 
 Unlike many NFL cities where Native Americans have little presence, their influence in the Twin Cities – and throughout Minnesota – is robust. 
 
 More than 1,100 students throughout the University of Minnesota system identify themselves as Native Americans, and TCF Bank Stadium was built with the help of a $10 million donation from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. At the time, it was the largest private gift to Gophers athletics. 
 
 The stadium also honors Minnesota’s 11 federally recognized tribes with the plaza where, on Sunday, protesters confronted fans. 
 
 Joseph Keller, wearing a Chris Cooley Redskins jersey, walked through it, stopping in front of a group of screaming teen protesters. He blew them kisses, then dropped his cigarette on the pavement and stepped on it. 
 
 A young woman snatched it from the ground and dropped it down the back of his jersey. He stopped, reached back to remove it and kept walking. 
 
 “So I’m racist because I like the Redskins?” he said to his friend, a Vikings fan, as the two men stood in line. 
 
 Keller, a former Marine who lives just outside Minneapolis, said he doesn’t understand Native Americans’ issue with the name, insisting that it’s a tribute to their warrior culture. 
 
 “That’s the way I look at it,” he said. 
 
 Moments later, the national anthem boomed from the stadium, drowning out the chants of protest behind him. ||||| The University of Minnesota wants the Washington Redskins to wear throwback jerseys without the team name or logo for the Nov. 2 game against the Minnesota Vikings being held at the college’s stadium. 
 
 The college, which is leasing its TCF Bank Stadium to the Vikings as the team’s new stadium gets built for a scheduled 2016 opening, has also asked that the game not have any Washington apparel or paraphernalia sold on the premise; that the word “Redskins” not be uttered by the game’s public address announcer; and that the team’s moniker not appear on the scoreboard or in the program guide or other game-related print or digital material. 
 
 Vikings officials appeared receptive to the university’s appeal during a meeting in late July, according to Katrice Albert, the college’s vice president in the office of equity and diversity. 
 
 “They said they’d make that request of the Washington team, but were not sure how it would be received,” she said. “The two Vikings officials said they are part of the NFL and don’t have the authority to force the hand to change the Washington name but understand it’s offensive to some members of our community. The Vikings have a great working relationship with the tribal nations of Minnesota, and they’re very understanding of how this team name and logo impacts our community.” 
 
 The university’s stadium features a Tribal Nations Plaza dedicated in honor of the 11 Native American tribes in Minnesota. It was built with a $10 million donation from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community — the largest private gift ever to Gophers athletics. 
 
 On Thursday, the tribe released a statement saying that it and other Minnesota tribes oppose the Redskins’ name “and other sports-related logos, mascots and names which degrade a race of people.” The community is working with the university to prepare “appropriate responses” to the NFL game and “minimize the damage that could be done by invoking the name in a place that respects and honors the Minnesota Native American community.” 
 
 A Vikings spokesman told The Post on Wednesday that the team was still trying to determine how it would handle the school’s request. Last year, hundreds of Native Americans and their supporters gathered outside the Metrodome before the Vikings played the Redskins to denounce the name of Washington’s team. 
 
 Redskins spokesman Tony Wyllie said Wednesday that the team disagrees with the school’s effort to bar the Redskins’ name at TCF Bank Stadium. “We have met many Native Americans from Minnesota who agree with our position and feel we are using the term correctly and honorably,” Wyllie said. 
 
 University officials said the use of the Redskins name at their stadium violates the institution’s affirmative action, diversity and equal opportunity policy. More than 1,100 students identify themselves as Native American throughout the University of Minnesota system. 
 
 Chuck Tombarge, a university spokesman, said the school has no recourse if the Vikings refuse to satisfy its requests. “Obviously, the Vikings are a good partner to Minnesota. We’ve outlined our suggestions and trust they will give them due diligence and will work on this as much as possible,” he said. 
 
 The Vikings and school officials are slated to meet again this month, with more meetings between then and game day. 
 
 The school is not the only entity pressuring the Vikings. Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum (D) sent a letter in June to Vikings owner Zygi Wilf urging him to condemn the Redskins’ team name and suggested he bears some responsibility to take a stand because NFL teams equally split the sales of every team’s licensed merchandise. 
 
 McColllum’s letter was carbon copied to the University of Minnesota’s president, Eric W. Kaler. He replied to her last week. 
 
 Joel Barkin, the spokesman for the Oneida Indian Nation, which has worked with McCollum frequently in its campaign against the team’s name, applauded the school’s proactive stance and said the word should be banned at professional stadiums, too. 
 
 “Many of these professional stadiums receive large forms of public subsidies, so we plan on writing to each of the teams to follow the lead of Minnesota,” Barkin said. “It’s inappropriate for taxpayers to be subsidizing the endorsement of a racial slur.” ||||| MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two buses transporting the Washington Redskins to their game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday collided on a highway exit ramp while driving to TCF Stadium. 
 
 The Redskins tweeted that the team had arrived safely at the stadium and team spokesman Tony Wyllie said that the accident will not affect the game. 
 
 "Everyone is fine. No one was injured," Wylie said. 
 
 Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske said one of the Minneapolis police squads escorting two buses crashed into a guard rail and ended up in front of the buses. He said the first bus braked but the second bus rear ended the first bus on the ramp. He said the accident call came in around 8:15 a.m. 
 
 Roeske said the officer in the squad car was taken to the hospital. He added there were minor injuries like scrapes and bruises on at least one bus passenger, but he didn't know how many sustained injuries. 
 
 Washington wide receiver Pierre Garcon tweeted a photo from inside one of the buses and said in a message "So this just happened. But we are ok." 
 
 Garcon's photo shows a broken front windshield. There is a police car parked in front of the bus and emergency workers, one pushing a stretcher on wheels, standing in the road. 
 
 The Redskins and Vikings were scheduled to kick off at noon.
– The Washington Redskins are having a rough time of it today: Things started with a crash this morning involving two of the team's buses, which were en route to play the Vikings in Minneapolis, reports the AP. A police escort in Minnesota crashed into a guardrail around 8:30am; the team bus immediately behind it braked to avoid hitting the cop car, but second bus rear-ended the first. No injuries. Arriving in Minneapolis, the team was met with chants of "Who are we? Not your mascot!" from some 3,200 protesting Native Americans who were none too happy with the "Redskins" moniker. "My Hubby Did Not Fight in Iraq To Be Called A 'Redskin,' read one sign. The protest raised familiar arguments, with one Redskins fan calling the name a "respectful" one in which Native Americans should "take pride." The name is nothing more than "a racial slur," counters one Democratic rep at the protest, citing Minnesota's "11 proud tribal nations. This was a government-funded policy of genocide." Indeed, as the Washington Post reports, Minneapolis is home to a sizable Native American presence, perhaps contributing to the size of the demonstration. The issue is compounded by the University of Minnesota, which currently leases its football stadium to the Vikings for a hefty $300,000 per game. With 1,100 students who identify as Native American, the university had in August demanded that the Redskins limit use of the mascot, logo, and team name during today's game.