A group of Native Americans have hit the warpath — figuratively, and no insult intended — asking the Washington NFL franchise to restore the name Redskins.
The group is the Native Americans Guardians Association, which describes itself as a nonprofit “advocating for increased education about Native Americans, especially in public educational institutions, and greater recognition of Native American heritage through the high-profile venue of sports and other public platforms.”
The motto on its website is “Educate not eradicate.”
I have written in opposition to the name change before. Some called me a racist. (Yawn.) My opposition to deleting the Redskins name rested mainly on a Washington Post poll of Native Americans in 2016 that found that 90% were not offended by the Redskins name. Not at all.
Rather than offended, my research revealed that a number of Native American schools themselves used the term Redskin, or similar, such as Red Man.
(By the way, I give credit to the Post for commissioning, and then reporting, a poll that went against its editorial page position which was to drop Redskins.)
That poll pretty much should have knocked the legs out from under the charge that the name was racist. But the Politically Correct, sniffing for insults like pigs seeking truffles, would not be deterred. Virtue signaling media outlets announced they would delete the name Redskins from their reports, referring to the team as the Washington football club. That’s because, in their vast wisdom, they perceived the term to be racist, even though the “victims” of the term did not regard it to be racist.
The paleface attitude came across as this: “Well, the poor savages are too ignorant to know they should be insulted.” That is a racist attitude. Great White Father knows best.”
From the NAGA website: “Redskins / Redmen is a Native American iconic name and is revered by the vast majority of Native Americans and general public alike. Redskins / Redmen represents honor, respect and pride for Native American culture.
“Redskins / Redmen is and has been a self-identifying term for Natives since the early 1800s.”
Those are the words of Native Americans themselves, not woozy academics or the white Woke wearing moccasins of cultural misunderstanding. I attempted to reach the Native American Guardians Association for comment, but it did not respond before my deadline. Ditto the Washington Commanders.
“What started out in the 1960s as a righteous, grassroots effort to eliminate truly degrading and stereotypical Indian mascots and logos,” says the NAGA website, “has in subsequent years been hijacked by a radical fringe group of academics backed by their far leftist allies to eliminate ALL Native imagery from the American landscape.”
Negative stereotypes should be removed, of course, “however the premise of the change activists that all Native symbols and imagery perpetuate negative stereotyping runs very contrary to common sense as well as the opinion of the vast majority of non-activist Native people.”
The group says, in effect, the Left turned Redskins into the N-word.
The website notes, “A 2019 survey conducted by the Washington Post revealed the most common term Native people associate with the term ‘redskins’ is ‘proud.’”
Get that? The very liberal Post reported Native Americans believe “redskin” = “proud.”
So why did Daniel Snyder cave in and rename his storied franchise the Commanders?
Pressure from the ignorant, that’s why. The Redskins were being shunned.
And also because he was revealed as a scumbag in his personal relations. He was forced to sell the club (which began in 1932 as the Boston Braves) for $6.05 billion.
That’s history, and the Native American Guardians Association sent a letter to the new owners asking, in effect, for justice — for the club to once again honor Redskins.
There’s an online petition at change.org that has 80,000 signatures.
Will it work? Will the actual Native Americans convince the Washington football team to reverse course and restore the storied name?
Not very likely, because the Woke forces control most of the media, and form public opinion.
And the public — along with the NFL and the AP — were sold a bill of goods.
Go Redskins! (And I don’t watch football. )
Political correctness is hurting our country It is nothing but pure nonsense. It is ridiculous to think people are afraid to open their mouth in public because they might hurt some person that might not want to be recognized as either male or female. The most ridiculous thing I ever heard is use of the N word. It is permissible for an African American to use the word in music, to great each other, in anger, of anytime they feel like it. Don’t dare let the N word pass the lips of a white person with out major repercussions. Things are really screwed up this country.
I object to banning any word, and have used “nigger” on my blog once or twice, in context, as here. I don’t use it all the time because I tire of explaining why no word should be banned, especially one used by the people themselves. Although, most of my Black friends don’t use it.
Mine too. Stu, too many commas🤣
Like any other word, it is a matter of context. Just because Black people use it, doesn’t mean it’s fine with me if someone drives by a Black person on the road and shouts it out the window at them.
“Nigger” can be a slur, and also a term of affection. It is situational. I don’t use it myself, except in limited, academic situations, such as this. No word should be “banned.”
Several sides to many stories. Suggest a new Cancel rule, must wait for a period of time, suggest 20 years 😉) before cancelling, removing statues, changing mascot, logo, re-writing history etc. Do they too want the Cleveland Indians back in baseball?
The “delay” idea has merit, except the social justice warriors will not have it, it would be delaying their idea of “justice.”
As to the Cleveland Indians, the team is now the Guardians.
The K.C. Chiefs a few years ago bonded with a local tribe, so they should be OK.
They gave in WAY too soon, It’s crazy because it’s only a Sports team. The Atlanta Braves never changed, yet Cleveland fell in place with a stupid name. I don’t know maybe we should change all teams to numbers , but that might offend Mathletes.
😃
And animals would offend PETA
PETA-People Eating Tasty Animals
So funny. 🥱
The word is not the thing. Simple semantics. Far as I’m concerned, you can use any word you like for anything. Ain’t gonna bother me. I ain’t ever watching the Redskins or Commanders anyway.
I’ll watch them when they play the Eagles.
Dennis Prager said that he would love if a team were named The Jews and would thrill to hear fans shout “Go Jews”!
Tell Dennis about the semi-pro basketball SPHAs — South Philadelphia Hebrew Assn.
Amusing how so many issues go in circles.
The Philadelphia Cricket Club went into conniptions a few years ago over the elegant and respectful sign they had at the entries with an Indian head logo. Finally, the activists won, the great signs were removed and replaced with a boring sign without any logo.
When will normal opinions come back in this cycle of ideas and the elegant signs put back at the club’s entries? Soon I hope.
I prefer a team called the Nads. Imagine the fans yelling out, “Go Nads! Go Nads!”
It used to be the coming Eagles=Redskins game got the blood going. Eagles-Commanders is a yawn. CHANGE BACK, REDSKINS!
In a previous life I was a Philadelphia Inquirer subscriber. For approximately a decade they were constantly beating the drum for a certain cheesesteak shop to change their name- which was named after the original owner’s nickname. Their campaign was successful, the owner acquiesced.
After the name change, I read multiple articles in the Inquirer that referenced the new name and in parentheses said (formerly known as ch**ks). Why did they feel the need to reference the previous name?
It was at this time I realized that the original name was not a slur but a brand. Why else would the Inquirer need to parenthetically remind us of the original name?
Ironically, the newly named cheesesteak shop closed. Job well done Inky.
The good news for me. I have more road behind me than in front of me. I spend almost zero time bowing to the gods of PC.
Thank you for a great article!
Frederick the Great said, “If you defend everything, you defend nothing.” The PC weenies want everything changed to suit their tastes, and will wind up with nothing.
You are welcome, and I tried defending Chink’s, which became Joe’s, and then failed, because the name change cost it the old customer base, and the PC, once they had won their fight, saw no reason to patronize Joe’s.
Will the insanity ever stop? I’m beginning to think not. As I was watching the Eagle pre-season game this week, my wife asked me who they were playing as she saw the offensive line and quarterback getting ready for the fourth down. I answered, “The Cleveland BROWNS.” After realizing there wasn’t a white player in the line up, I felt myself feeling guilty about my response. Should I have just said, Cleveland?”
😃