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Today being Columbus day got me thinking.. How is Columbus Day still observed as a holiday? That should be even more offensive to folks given his history and what he stood for and what he did when he discovered America, right?
I don't know, the wheels have been turning... Great posts above Double H!
great posts indeed, given the circumstances I would offer up a more suitable name for the team would instead be the Rednecks.
A few things that Double H didn't cover is why the name was changed to Redskins from Braves. When the team was first in Boston, they played in Braves Stadium. When the team moved to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, the owner decided the team needed to change their name to compliment the Red Sox, so they changed the name to "Redskins". Some say it was to honor their head coach at the time, who was Native American. I think Marshall wanted to keep the "Indian" theme, and Redskins seemed to do both (compliment the Red Sox name and keep the Indian theme.)
As to the origin of the term "Redskin" most think it comes from the scalping of Indian heads, but that isn't true. Smithsonian Institution senior linguist Ives Goddard spent seven months researching its history and concluded that "redskin" was first used by Native Americans in the 18th century to distinguish themselves from the white "other" encroaching on their lands and culture.
There is documentation that the term was used in a speech by Meskwaki chief Black Thunder, back on July 20, 1815 in the treaty council at Portage des Sioux, Missouri Territory:
"Restrain your feelings and hear calmly what I say," he told the envoys. "I have never injured you, and innocence can feel no fear. I turn to all red skins and white skins, and challenge an accusation against me."
Other research find the term Redskin came from certain tribes in North America that would paint their face with berry juice before going into battle.
Others have researched to find that there is actually no true historical documentation that links the term "redskin" with scalps for bounty.
In today's "PC" world, often times, if there is any chance of any particular word being "offensive" to someone, no matter how ridiculous it might be, then the PC movement will run with it. My opinion, of course, but often they do this without actually doing thorough research. People have heard these horrible scalping stories from some un-named source, so they think it must be true, and so the name must be offensive. And, they become offended by it, and really don't know why or if their offense is even true. I mean, if we are going to be offended by the Redskins' mascot, then we can dig as deep as we need to to be offended by over half of the other team mascot names in the NFL. Some group, some where is going to be offended by The Buccaneers, the Vikings, the Raiders, the Chiefs, and yes, even the Cowboys (I'm sure PETA wouldn't like what to hear what Cowboys do to cattle.)
So, in my personal opinion, I don't see any concrete evidence that the name is offensive whatsoever. And the suits that have been filed in the past recent years have been over trademarks if anything else. So, that to me says the big stink over the Redskins' moniker was over money, not being offended. So, I say it's time to grow up and get over it. The team does not use the name to disparage any race or any tribe of Indians, they use it to honor a race of people; which quite frankly would probably be a forgotten race if not for sports teams using names and symbols to remind us that they are a very important part of our American history.
Personally, I don't think anyone outside of Native Americans should decide whether the term is offensive.
I don't care how it was used historically and by whom. Words and usage change ... kinda like the n-word.
I've never thought it was racist to most people but if I was an Indian, i'd probably think so. Redskin can be pretty derogatory. Honestly i'm surprised they couldn't just change it to "Washington Warriors" or even kept the Braves name (the Braves of baseball weren't popular until they got to Milwaukee really, and didn't become super big until the 90's in Atlanta, so Washington Braves could work.
If you change the REdskins though you have to change the mascot of the Cleveland Indians. I almost feel thats more racist than redskins. They don't have to change the Indians name, but the mascot in cleveland should go.
One last thing, did North Dakota get rid of the Sioux name? I wonder why the Sioux tribes up there don't like the name, are they all NDSU fans or something
Personally, I don't think anyone outside of Native Americans should decide whether the term is offensive.
I don't care how it was used historically and by whom. Words and usage change ... kinda like the n-word.
There's a huge difference between comparing "redskin" to the N-word. The n-word has always been, by definition, an insulting word. At no time was it ever a harmless term. Redskin, on the other hand, does not have a harmless origin. At least, there is no factual, historical documentation to back up any indication of such allegation. So, if you change the name of the Redskins, might as well change the name of the other NFL teams that bring a negative condentation.
And I find it funny how no one ever seems to ask this same question about Notre Dame...
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Offensive Team Name
