Redskin's to Change Their Name

[Dirty Penguin]

It's just so pointless...

Agreed....

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Will the Cleveland Indians have to change their name? Is that potentially racist as well?

Their mascot certainly is.

 

[darkendless]

OK, and now they're trying again. I really don't see what the big deal is. To me, pro sports is a completely frivolous industry. While it's a significant indictment of pro sports that an overtly racist team brand has endured for so long, I don't see why it matters that efforts to get the name changed in 1992 failed. What does that have to do with 2013? Public support for the name is dropping like a rock and I see no reason to fight the inevitable. Why name your team something that certain newspapers can't even print?

Well they named the team in 1932 for starters.

 

[darkendless]

We have the All Blacks and the All Whites...

Imagine that in the USA, the activists would have heart attacks.

 

[fallingblood]

Well they named the team in 1932 for starters.

However, what has to be remembered is that racism just ran rampant in this country. However, there have been fights about mascots and school names for quite some time. While it may not have been until 1992 that official action arose against the Red Skins, it isn't that nothing else was tried before that.

And with the aspect of rampant racism, it just became accepted. Even today, racism is accepted quite often, and the subjugation and degradation of certain ideas are not even fully understood. It takes time for people to become aware of the negativity that their actions can cause.

We can once again look at how long slavery was seen as perfectly normal in the United States. It took quite some time for slavery to be legally challenged. That doesn't mean that no one was standing against the idea, it just means legal action hadn't occurred until then.

 

[Alceste]

Well they named the team in 1932 for starters.

So what? They were still lynching people in the US up to the sixties or even later. Some traditions are not worth preserving.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Well they named the team in 1932 for starters.

1932... You mean back in the heyday of Amos 'n Andy, and when it was still considered acceptable for actors to perform in blackface?

 

[Vinayaka]

Full voting rights for all native Americans happened in 1965, although because it was state by state controlled, some could vote before that. The last rights act wasn't until 1968 which included the right to a trial by jury, amongst other things.

 

[jazzymom]

As a general sports fan including NFL (a local of ours was just drafted by Seattle by the name of Jesse Williams) I am shocked that there seems to be so much attention towards the "racism" of the the Washington Redskins team name.

Seriously, aren't there more important things to worry about?

I personally don't consider it racist at all not being American. I assumed Redskin had something to do with the colour of the football (please excuse my obvious ignorance).

It seems awfully strange that this is a problem (since 1992 when it first came up) now when they've been called the Redskins since 1932.

Is this going too far? Seems like a huge waste of effort over something so insignificant. Also the fact that all teams with names that can be associated with native Indians have had to change. A little bit over-zealous isn't it?

Here is the article Poll -- Majority approve of Washington Redskins name - ESPN (Yes I am watching Baseball at work ).

No it is not going to far.

It is derogatory.

Would it be acceptable to call a team the black skins or the yellow skins?

No it would not.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

No it is not going to far.

It is derogatory.

Would it be acceptable to call a team the black skins or the yellow skins?

No it would not.

Although, I assume that white folks wouldn't care if they named themselves the White Skins

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Although, I assume that white folks wouldn't care if they named themselves the White Skins

I would go for "The Other White Meat".

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'm surprised they didn't do this along time ago considering that a name change will likely mean a change in uniforms and merchandise, which will bring in a huge influx of cash when people need to go out and rebuy all their fan crap.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm just saying it seems pointless and wasteful.

They don't have to challenge it any more than the other side don't have to try and get it changed.

Apart from the racial inclinations of the term, it is also the fact their entire culture, their entire heritage, has been reduced to team mascots that typically portray Natives in a stereotypical fashion.

American Indians comprise "multiple races"?? At most, they constitute a single race; at least as I remember it from my old sociology courses. Moreover, the Sioux of Minnesota called themselves ha sha (red skin)

Argueing semantics is pointless, especially when the concept of race, or even ethnic group, is either very clear cut or very vague depending on how you look at it.
There is only one race of humans, so no there wasn't multiple races, but there were many different ethnic groups.

 

[darkendless]

No it is not going to far.

It is derogatory.

Would it be acceptable to call a team the black skins or the yellow skins?

No it would not.

So you're against New Zealand's national teams called the All Blacks and the All Whites?

The NZ basketball team is called the Tallblacks as well.

How racist of New Zealand right?

 

[fallingblood]

So you're against New Zealand's national teams called the All Blacks and the All Whites?

The NZ basketball team is called the Tallblacks as well.

How racist of New Zealand right?

Context is key. The All Blacks and Tall Blacks are not names derived from skin colors. First, New Zealand's national color is black, so that somewhat comes into place. Second, the team has an all black playing stripe. Now, there is the story that the name also derives from a misprinting of the term "all backs" but most likely, it had nothing to do with skin color.

 

[Falvlun]

Moreover, the Sioux of Minnesota called themselves ha sha (red skin)

I'd be really surprised if this were true, pre-European settlement. After all, prior to people with different colored skin coming to the Americas, they would have only been used to one sort of skin color and would have no reason to consider it "red".

 

[Vinayaka]

As far as I can tell, this is just being discussed, no? I bet they don't change their name this time around.

 

[fallingblood]

Moreover, the Sioux of Minnesota called themselves ha sha (red skin)

Do you have a source for this? Doing a search turns up nothing.

Also, this argument is a complete misrepresentation of the matter. Context is key. When Europeans first started calling Native Americans red skins, it was a derogatory statement. The fact that some Native Americans took up the term is besides the point.

 

[England my lionheart]

As a general sports fan including NFL (a local of ours was just drafted by Seattle by the name of Jesse Williams) I am shocked that there seems to be so much attention towards the "racism" of the the Washington Redskins team name.

Seriously, aren't there more important things to worry about?

I personally don't consider it racist at all not being American. I assumed Redskin had something to do with the colour of the football (please excuse my obvious ignorance).

It seems awfully strange that this is a problem (since 1992 when it first came up) now when they've been called the Redskins since 1932.

Is this going too far? Seems like a huge waste of effort over something so insignificant. Also the fact that all teams with names that can be associated with native Indians have had to change. A little bit over-zealous isn't it?

Here is the article Poll -- Majority approve of Washington Redskins name - ESPN (Yes I am watching Baseball at work ).

I think they should drop the Redskins name if it offends,i don't think they should change the name of New England Patriots though

 

[Brickjectivity]

'Redskins' was a name used to dehumanize tribes, part of war propaganda. A lot of tribes still exist and live in territories reserved from US influence, and they are still dealing with problems stemming from the loss of their territory and belittlement of their culture by outsiders. Changing the name is a good idea, because its a good thing to do.