Redskin: Offensive And Degrading To Native Americans

A fan once said “There goes the Redskins season” and most times they are right. Although some people find this offensive. Not for the season part but for the name of the teams. For at least two years now fans and simple people have debated whether or not the teams name redskins was offensive to the Native Americans. Some say that it was offensive to the native people, Others disagreed. Having a team named after you is always respectful but in this case it is very offensive to the native American people.

Today in America the word Racism is taken to a whole new level. Even in sports, such as the NFL racism prospers. For instance the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. Native Americans are trying to say the NFL is being rude for naming a Team Redskins. The Redskins have had that name since 1933 (Staff). The team had the name of Braves before they adopted the name Redskins. It was changed due to racism purposes. Some people would agree that the whole situation with Redskins is ridiculous because The Major League Baseball series has two teams related to Native Americans, The Atlanta Braves and The Cleveland Indians. The NFL also has more than just Redskins. They have the Kansas City Chiefs. So if they are really worried about

Words are often deemed derogatory by the way they are said. A perfectly harmless word repeatedly said in a hurtful manner will eventually become derogatory. This was the case with the term "Redskin". Although the word is often used in a well meaning way, there are still those who use it to try to bring down those of that race. In California, the word has been banned, but that doesn’t mean the derogatory words to those of Native American decent are going to go away. Basically any word used to describe Native Americans can be taken in a harmful manner if said a certain way.

There has been many controversy with teams using Native American name for mascots and has become a major issue in today’s society. Many have viewed the Washington Redskins as honor for Native Americans, others see it racist, insensitive, and demeaning. Woods (2016) claims that “the complaint is that the use of stereotypical team names, mascots, and logos perpetuates an ideology that dehumanizes and demeans the cultures of Native Americans” (p. 298). Since the issue arise, many scholars, journalists and leaders have joined the battle to ensure that each team will eliminate the nicknames since it is considered abusive or hostile. It may take time but the trend is growing. More than 1,400 professional, collegiate,

Teams that have the name like Redskins, Indians, and Red Raiders are racist terms used as mascots. Interchange the name with the Negroes, the Jews or the Asians and that sounds even worse but, it all means the same thing. They are all racist terms that no one should use to represent something like a team name. According to racismagainstindians.org, Native Americans were banned from practicing their own religion and would be often thrown in jail if they were caught all the way up to 1978. But when nonnative people at sporting events would dance and sing their songs it would be completely okay. This makes no sense,

Dating back several hundreds of years ago, Native Americans have been deprived, dehumanized, and demoralized ever since Christopher Columbus and his men came and seized the land from the Indigenous Peoples. There have been many tactics that have been used to strip the dignity of the Indigenous Peoples, but the use of an American Indian sports mascot is one tactic that has been in effect since 1932. There are some supporters of these various American Indian sports mascots such as Dan Snyder, the current team owner of the Washington Redskins, that do not feel that these sports mascots have any negative connotations. Dan Snyder may have had a few points when he wrote his letter, but he fails to realize that the American Indian Sports Mascots are

Although Native Americans have told ESPN and the owner of the team that they disliked the term redskin and that they are not comfortable being a mascot or subject to slurs, the name is unsuccessful to do so. Many natives are seen protesting on the street showing people that they want a name change and to raise awareness of

The controversy over the naming of sports teams after ethnic groups has been boiling since the mid-twentieth century. Sports teams in America, ranging from Pee-wee leagues, high schools, and colleges to Professional sports, have used any enumeration of nick names and mascots by which to represent their team with pride and sometimes even comedy. However, the lines of political correctness have been greatly and maybe even intentionally blurred in terms of the use of specific ethnic groups within team names and the use of the stereotypical image of those teams’ caricatures, the native-American in particular. Of the four major professional sports team franchises included in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL that do possess ethnic monikers, only two are of Caucasoid based ethnicity, whereas the other 5 are direct references to Native American ethnicity or stereotypes

The Native American people have a tenacious opinion on whether the Washington Redskins team should change their name due to its derogatory meaning. According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, the word “Redskin” is defined as Native American, but is specifically stated to be “Usually Offensive”(Merriam-Webster). The Native Americans deeply thought that the names, symbols, and mascots were completely disrespectful,

The debate about whether or not the Washington Redskins should change their name has been a topic for a long time. Some Native Americans have often considered the name a racial slur and think that the league should get rid of the name as it doesn’t represent Native Americans in the best way possible. In 1937 the Redskins moved to Washington and decided to retain the name even though it had faced backlash then. Since then the team has over time shown more caution on using slogans that may disrespect Native Americans. Some slogans they did use include “On the Warpath, with a cartoon drawing of an angry Indian, and another called “Teepee Talk, featuring a clip-art Indian sticking his head out of a tepee” (Shapira, 2016, Para.5). There will always be a debate if the team should get rid of its name but for right now Washington’s football teams name is the Redskins.

     Many people do not consider themselves supporting Native American mascots that depict them in a bad manner. But when people walk around with a Atlanta Braves shirt on with a Indian with a tomahawk in his hand, it is degrading to the Indians. It is stereotyping them. School mascots and Sports team’s mascots are named after groups of people for no reason known. Notre Dame was founded by Irish Catholics, but their sports team was named the Fighting Irish. The name Fighting Irish has nothing to do with the Irish Catholics, it depicts them in a wrong way.(Price, 3). Team names can be changed to similar names that do not depict certain groups of people. Like the Redskins can be called the Red Hawks or the

The controversy of Indian mascots is a widespread issue seen across the U.S.;is it racist , or is it justified? From different viewpoints from many people the answers vary from group to group.I believe it is not racist and believe that it is honoring. Natives should have the final say, but regular americans still step in and want a say in the whole issue. The Indian mascot has been used all across the U.S. ranging from elementary schools all the way to college and professional sports teams. “In fact Over 2,128 other teams use indian referenced team names not just professional”.(Munguia, Hayley)Ranging from many racial terms to regular tribe names. The main focus of the controversy is focused on the professional sports team the Washington Redskins.Many people see this team as racist and degrading to Indians. Some say it is similar to the racial slur n***** to African Americans. I believe the Redskins, may be politically incorrect representation of the Indians but not all indian mascots are racist or wrong. Indian mascots bring history, power, cultural, education and strong images of Indians to Native Americans and all American people. .

The article, “The 2,128 Native American Mascots People Aren 't Talking About” written by Hayley Munguia gives a massive overview of not only the Redskins, but the 2, 129 other teams representing the controversial Native American mascot references. Munguia begins the article by sharing that a little boy does not even realize the connection between the Redskins and the Native American innuendo. She that this is not just the issue of an NFL team, but about all the other teams in High School, College, Semi Pro, and Pro athletics, and how “8.2% of college have Native American team names. Munguia goes into an interview with a high school coach from the Estelline Redmen. He claims that the name is for the “color they

Native Americans are truly offended by the team name “Red Skins”. According to “America now” page 71: “Non-native Americans might not understand how deep the term “redskins” cuts into ancient wounds that never quite healed and maybe it’s not reasonable to expect them to because of the hurt they feel. Every time Dan Snyder refuses to change his NFL team’s name, even with tribes paying for powerful ads in opposition, the wounds of Native Americans seem to continue to bleed and may even be cut a bit more deeper…Snyder plunges a long twisted blade into our hearts (Holmes, 71).

Schaefer (2012) states, “discrimination is the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons” (Schaefer, 2012). Courtland Milloy inquires about discrimination in the article Do the Redskins Need a New Name? by P. J. Orvetti (2011) when he states, “Why is it okay to use “redskins” but not, say “blackskins” or “whiteskins” (Orvetti, 2011)? When I mentioned Milloy’s statement to a peer, she seemed somewhat surprised, because it never occurred to her that “redskins” was an offensive term, she claimed that she only knew this term from its relation to the football team. Although using altered images of Native American may seem relatively harmless, they cause long term effects on a race because people begin to see the race as more of a joke than an actual group of people who have emotions and are worthy of the same rights and respect as any other race. When I was younger, every picture or video I saw of a Native American depicted people adorned in the same feather covered outfit, speaking the same clichéd dialects, and making “howling” or “whooping” noises. For instance, in Walt Disney’s