N/S PTO rules that "Redskins" is derogatory (not a case about the NFL team but likely precedent)
Redskins is pretty much the only one that's inarguably based on an actual slur with no interpretation other than that. Logos and such (like the Cleveland Indians in MLB), might have issues, but none of the other names are inherently derogatory. Someone might say with pride I'm an Indian, not caring that the name was a goof. No one says "I am a Redskin" with pride or without ironically referring to the racism in the word.
I've never been one to lead the charge that it has to go (maybe I should be or should have been, and am complicit in the racism), but you really can't argue for a good interpretation or the name or say that it's just "hypersensitive" to see it as racist. On the list of things we've done to Native Americans it's hardly the worst, but it is an undeniable slap in the face saying "You don't really have enough cultural power for us to care that you're offended."
I'm pretty sure if San Francisco had gone another way with a reference to the Gold Rush for their team and called themselves the "Yellow Peril" and had a a Chinaman with a queue running with a football on their helmets the name would have been changed long ago.
Redskins is pretty much the only one that's inarguably based on an actual slur with no interpretation other than that. Logos and such (like the Cleveland Indians in MLB), might have issues, but none of the other names are inherently derogatory. Someone might say with pride I'm an Indian, not caring that the name was a goof. No one says "I am a Redskin" with pride or without ironically referring to the racism in the word.
I've never been one to lead the charge that it has to go (maybe I should be or should have been, and am complicit in the racism), but you really can't argue for a good interpretation or the name or say that it's just "hypersensitive" to see it as racist. On the list of things we've done to Native Americans it's hardly the worst, but it is an undeniable slap in the face saying "You don't really have enough cultural power for us to care that you're offended."
I'm pretty sure if San Francisco had gone another way with a reference to the Gold Rush for their team and called themselves the "Yellow Peril" and had a a Chinaman with a queue running with a football on their helmets the name would have been changed long ago.