Let’s play a word game. I will share some potential names for professional sports teams with you and tell me how they make you feel.
The New York Niggers
The Kansas City Kikes
The Detroit Dagos
The Pittsburgh Polacks
The San Diego Spics
These “team names” are despicable and abhorrent, and I’m sure I would get nearly unanimous agreement on that.
That being the case, then why is it acceptable to continue to have a professional sports team called the Washington Redskins? It is the height of hypocrisy that the use of other racial and ethnic epithets is forbidden, but the acceptance and celebration of a term that is as derogatory as the name Redskins continues.
One of the many reasons that words like Nigger are so offensive is because of their historical association with the degradation and destruction of a people. It is also emblematic of the denial of self-determination. Black people never had the right or option to define themselves in the larger society. The same is true for Indigenous Americans and the use of Redskins to identify them. It is indisputable that “during the entire history of America until the turn of the 20th century, Indigenous Americans were hunted, killed, raped, and forcibly removed from their lands by European settlers. Bounties were offered during the colonial period for the scalps of Indigenous Americans. The name Redskins was used during this period and is inextricably associated with the extermination and oppression of indigenous Americans. Sound familiar?
Due to the activism of Indigenous Americans and their supporters, many in our society have become more enlightened and have taken meaningful steps to rectify this indignation. Hundreds of schools have changed the names of their sports teams. On the other hand, we still have the arrogant and obstinate owner of the Washington NFL franchise declaring that changing the name of the team will never happen. The owner Dan Snyder and legions of Washington fans will argue that the name Redskins is a badge of honor being bestowed upon Indigenous Americans. That’s like someone pissing on you and telling you it’s raining. In 1968 the National Congress of American Indians created a resolution that the word Redskin was offensive.
Proponents of the name’s usage will cite a poll taken in 2004 by the Annenberg Public Policy Center that stated 90% of the people who identified themselves as American Indians and said they were not bothered by the name Redskins. The survey organization that conducted the survey later issued a memorandum that made it clear that the survey should not be seen as an accurate reflection of Native Americans’ attitudes at the time. They acknowledged that there were structural flaws in their survey through the distribution of a public memorandum.
If any of the names I introduced at the beginning of this piece repulsed you or made you cringe, I accomplished my goal, and it means there is hope for change.
When it was in Boston, one of the team owners of the team, George Preston Marshall, bought out his partners and brought the team to Washington. Before the move, Mr. Marshall, an avowed racist, changed the name of the team from the Boston Braves to the Washington Redskins. Marshall became known as a racist the old-fashioned way; he earned it. Marshall was the last NFL owner to hire an African American football player in 1962. He made his position known loud and clear for years; he would not have any black players on his team. Marshall did not allow a black football player on his team until the Attorney General and Secretary of Interior forced his hand by threatening him with governmental action.
Ironically the current owner may find himself in the same situation soon. The first blow was the restriction of their use of their trademarks by the U.S Office of Patents and Trademark. Bravo, because it takes a change in institutions to root out institutional racism.
If my opening paragraph made you feel uncomfortable in the least, it should not be hard to understand that the words used in the first paragraph are drenched in hatred and ignorance and should never be publicly condoned.
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