Indian group wants Redskins back in D.C.

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.