Cal_Fan2;842326565 said:
Like I wrote earlier, I'm kind of agnostic...not because I don't think "redskin" is a slur, it is, but because there seems to be a lot of selective thought on it. The National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and largest American Indian and Alaskan Native group in the U.S. since 1944 wrote a white paper in 2013 about how ALL native American Indian symbols are insensitive, racist and caricatures....along with all war chants, Indian dances and other Indian rituals used colleges and pros. These should be addressed as well if you think the NCAI has standing etc. This includes the Chiefs, Braves, Blackhawks etc as well as all college and high school teams...
Also, why are there images that absolutely bring up racist stereotypes still in use? Is it because they are now common place and not deemed racist anymore?. That would make sense to me if the redskin argument holds water......some of these are down right pejoratives, or have been in the past. The first two predate the "Redskins". Get rid of all of it, not just some if you want to be seen as fair to the cause. There certainly are groups of people who find these offensive or stereotypical...be proactive.
Wanted to come back to this point. Yes, I can certainly see the argument that all appropriations of Native American culture are inherently offensive and should be removed. I can't even necessarily say it's wrong.
Part of my attitude here is simply a pragmatic one -- sure, it would be nice if there were no Native American images used as marketing material and/or mascots, but unfortunately that horse left the barn a long time ago and it's going to be pretty hard (if not impossible) to stamp them all out. As such, I focus on doing away with what seem like the worst offenders, "Washington Redskins" being one of them. One battle at a time, you know?
The other side of it is that some of these schools or teams (Florida State, Chicago Blackhawks) have gotten actual input from the local Indian tribes on whether or not their representations are fair. If that legitimate effort has been made, should I still call for the logo to be scrapped? Not sure about that.
Finally, I don't personally find it inconsistent to object to the Redskins name but not more abstract names like Chiefs or Braves. The names do carry different meanings. Or to object to the Cleveland Indians "Chief Wahoo" logo but not some of the other more respectful portrayals of Indians (including the Redskins' helmet logo). Some representations are more obviously caricature than others.
