Zebruary Persuasive Speech

Should the Washington Redskins change their team name due to controversy with Native Americans? That has been the questions since the 1980s. There are many different views on the issue. Some people believe the name should stay, some insist it should be changed, and others are ultimately indifferent. In the end, changing the name is the definite right choice, the Washington Redskins name is offensive to the Native American people and therefore it must go. The name is not only offensive to the Native American people, but people outside of Native American 's find issue with it, and it also promotes ethnic stereotyping.

The National Congress of American Indians feel that sports teams with Native American related team names and/or mascots are offensive and unnecessary. The changing of these names has become an enormous debate in today’s world. A fact from “Washington Redskins Name Controversy” says it has since become a prominent civil rights issue and that the American Indian people consider these names a harmful racial epithet. Offensive team names and/or mascots is truly an intense topic with two points of view. Many believe that these teams should keep the names because they show respect and honor, but truly they are racist and offensive to the American Indian culture and need to be changed as soon as possible.

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.

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.

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,

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,

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,

Throughout ancient times, many names have identified as racial slurs. Most recently, controversy has surrounded multiple sports teams such as the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, and the Washington Redskins; however, some may believe the Braves and Indians name is more to honor them, instead of discriminate against them. The conflict of the Washington Redskins seems highest compared to other teams. This kind of denigration has both visible and unseen consequences for Native Americans (Keim 2). Throughout this paper opinions on the argument has been voiced, polls which have taken placed, and protests have developed for both sides of the argument will be taken discussed to find a resolution for the potential name change of the Washington Redskins.

Native Americans are often offended by racist nicknames, logos, and stereotypes in sports. The Washington Redskins and many other teams are facing this.

Nowadays we do not see the Indians or Redskins as a negative way of describing a race or culture. We see them as professional teams that play hard and get our spirits up. Out of all teams, I would say that the Redskins is probably the most racist of all names because of the term it was used years ago. I would change the name to something more honorable towards Native Americans. Braves is actually more honorable than Redskins because they are identifying Native Americans as Brave rather than a negative stereotype of a name. The team name, Redskins, has actually received backlash for many years because it was seen as insulting and offensive to people of Native American culture. After many polls of whether to keep the name or not, 83 percent of people chose to keep the name as it was not used as racial slur. At this point, the team names are not meant as a racial slur so there shouldn't be any

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

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

With the recent uproar and political involvement with the name controversy, as an organization we have developed a marketing campaign to involve our elite fan base with changing the Washington Redskins’ name, to one that is well accepted within the community. Since the organization is enriched with history and traditions, we developed a strategic campaign that stays true to the Redskins’ values.

The Change the Mascot campaign has made a website for people to see how big of topic this is to them. Also, on their website they’ve put out many other Native American tribes that support the changing of the name, ways to take action and even ways to contact them. They have a tab that shows the history of progress that shows that many team’s names and mascots have been changed from a racial Native American term to a more laid back name or mascot. They believe that the name and mascot should and will be changed to create more of non-racial effect among the Washington Redskins fans and community. Also, the Change the Mascot organization has put together a way to for non-Native American people to show their support by using the tag #ProudToBe Standing With #NotYourMascot on social media. Many native american tribes have actually sent out letters to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about changing the Washington Redskins name, logo and mascot. This is a national movement of Americans across the country, both Native and non-Native alike, who are standing against racism and strongly encouraging a

After reading “Playing Indian” and “Fighting Mascots”, the arguments and tactics that Suzan Harjo employed in her article was relating back to the passing time of Native American history. Specifically, Harjo explained the color that the NFL team, the Washington “Redskins”. For instance, “...impose this false identity, its name is even more vile, because it is rooted in the commodification of Native skin and body parts as bounties and trophies” (621). Additionally, Harjo is exploiting the history that Native people have suffered and by showing off Native Americans as some sort of trophy does not sit well with her. Ultimately, I think that Harjo is effectively stating her argument to the Washington Redskins NFL team by relating to past history.