It’s not just the Redskins whose name may seem racist towards Native Americans. Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer
During this past Sunday night game between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, Bob Costas dove into the controversy of whether or not the name ‘Redskins’ is still a correct term and if it should still be used today.
Costas felt that the name is an insult and slur and that still using the name in the year 2013 is very racist of the team and the NFL.
Costas does in fact make a valid point, that if we were to use racial slurs meant for African Americans, Hispanics, Asians or some ethnic group there would be quite an uproar when attempting to make that a professional football team.
However, fans of the NFL have really not had an issue with the name, and commissioner Roger Goodell went as far to say that the name, “stands for strength, courage, pride and respect.”
I think that a lot of the negativity for the name is coming from the logo that goes on all Redskins merchandise.
It is clearly a Native American man and that is where the issue may have started. If there was another logo that didn’t depict the same image, then less people would be as concerned with the name.
The Kansas City Chiefs are clearly named after Native Americans but the logo they use is an arrowhead, and not many people are too worried about the negativity from an arrowhead. And no one has called them out on their name.
Is it because it doesn’t sound as racist?
Probably, but if you get rid of the name ‘Redskins,’ then ‘Chief’ should also go.
Growing up, I lived in a suburban town about twenty minutes south of Albany, N.Y. Our school nick name was the Silver Warriors, and even before that when my mom went to school, there was no silver, so it was just Warriors.
Clearly referencing Native Americans because our town originally was a large Native American tribe.
Some people were upset with that name, and in order to please both groups the color silver was added onto the name, and everyone went on with their lives. There were also other schools in the area named Plainsmen, Indians and so on.
And to be honest, no one really should be upset. It’s a name and it’s not doing anything to hurt anyone.
In reality it’s truly respecting that group of people who were originally there.
You aren’t going to make fun or do bad things to your school’s team name. You are going to respect it and stand for everything it means and has to offer you and everyone in that community.
Many of the people actually upset with the name, aren’t even Native American, they just feel that the word is racist and should not belong anymore.
But after doing some online research, I found that many Native Americans were not mad, but rather wanted to do more investigating on their own heritage and were proud that their ancestors were part of such a big organization like the NFL.
But how come everyone is getting only upset about the Redskins and not about other teams in professional sports. Has anyone heard of baseball’s Cleveland Indians.
That name might be just a little bit racist, but to most people, if they aren’t describing what a certain nationality looks like then there is no issue.
A nickname for the team is called the tribe, which obviously has to do with Native Americans.
Indians are now politically correct to be known as people from India and people originally from America are Native Americans and not Indians. So the Cleveland Indians should either change their name to Native Americans or change the name entirely.
Even the Cleveland Tribe would sound better because it actually represents the Native American community and is not using a politically incorrect word.
Luckily at Hartford, we don’t have an angry group of Hawks flying around telling us to change our names to something that appeases them.
Fortunately birds can’t talk and don’t have the ability to do this and we get to keep our name.
The fact that a good amount of people don’t truly care about the Redskin name and would rather let it continue to be part of the NFL. It would also take a lot of effort and time for the name to change.
And let’s not forget about the money. New name means new logo, new everything and everything ‘Redskin’ has to be thrown away, which costs a lot of money.
We all know how much the NFL loves their money and having to waste all of that money just because a group of people don’t like the name is not at the top of their list. It’s most likely not even on the list.
We are in a very progressive era and racism is slowly dying out, which of course is a good thing. But to change a nickname like ‘Redskins’ could create a lot more controversy than it already has.