Supreme Court May Rule on Redskins Name (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Miller]

REDSKINS, isn't exactly a term of enderarment to the the many tribes of native americans. I seriously doubt that in this day and age we'd consider it acceptable to create a new football team in the american southwest and called them say...The Sante Fe Border Bandits or the Austin Texicans.

I don't presonally think people should be used as mascots for sports teams. The Redskins does not offend me, but i'm not Appache, Sioux, or Cherrokee, I'm a German-American, so our countries history of theaft and muder of native americans doesn't have any personal meaning to me, as it doesn't with most Americans.

The native americans (a term itself that is misleading as trible members are technically a nation unto their own seperate from the United States) feel different, and i believe rightfully so.

Changing the name of the Redskins won't improve the life if native americans at all, but if the court ordered the change i wouldn't really have a problem with it. In fact it would like be a rare marking oppurtunity to create a whole new brand, similar to when the NBA's Washington Bullets changed their name to the Washington Wizards.

 

[Flipx99]

I'm not sure that's actually true.

The federal government's primary arm for handling native american issues is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, housed in the Department of the Interior. http://www.doi.gov/bia/ The head of BIA at the moment is Larry EchoHawk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_EchoHawk and the agency employs many many native americans.

Also in Washington, the newest Smithsonian museum on the mall is the National Museum of the American Indian. http://www.nmai.si.edu/. I used to think that "indian" was offensive to native americans but I just don't see how those institutions would still having "indian" in their names.

I'm pretty sure it isn't offensive.

Not sure that I follow your logic. Ever hear of the NAACP? How about the United Negro College Fund?

 

[DangBeast]

Just think of it in this light...

what if our team was called the New Orleans N*****'s

That's offensive yes?

Now you can see where they're coming from.

Really?

 

[kade_l]

You should have seen some faces when I first moved to Texas and told a few people I was a coonass. Then my last name is LeBlanc. I had to explain myself that's for sure. So what if my name means "the white." And I am a coonass till the day I die baby. I had a black girlfriend too. It was priceless lolol.

 

[SaintlyAgenda]

Really?

It truly is the same exact thing to Native Americans. I'm telling you from experience.

 

[St. PJ]

I hope eventually they're forced to change their name to "The Indigenous Americans".

I couldn't agree more. Political correctness has gotten too far out of hand. If you want to change something, have the courts change the history books to more accurately reflect the amount of native americans immigrating europeans slaughtered. That would do more for how they are viewed and bring light to an atrocity worse than the holocaust and how xxxxxx we have treated the native americans better than doing away with a football mascot/moniker.

 

[GameBreaker]

Ya know, I kinda agree with the Natives (Ancient Asian Americans) on this one. What if there was a team called the Blackskins or Yellowskins.

But in the end I don't really care none-the-less. Would I consider it deragotory to be called a Whiteskin? Hell no.

They should just change their mascot to a red deer or something and then say they're not refering to natives anymore.

 

[superchuck500]

Not sure that I follow your logic. Ever hear of the NAACP? How about the United Negro College Fund?

Fair enough - but go to those sites about American Indians and there's many examples of them using the word "indians." Show me where the NAACP or the United Negro College Fund talk on their sites about helping "colored people" or "negroes"?

 

[earl_con_queso504]

Just think of it in this light...

what if our team was called the New Orleans N*****'s

That's offensive yes?

Now you can see where they're coming from.

wow i knew someone would do something like this great way to make your point

 

[SaintBeau]

Nanny State = Sick of it.

This challenge should have been made many years ago. I don't like the idea of people being used for mascots, either, but the condition should be that if the team either folds or changes hands that the name should be retired. Either that or the people who are bringing about the suit should be responsible for paying for all of the souvenirs, logo clothing and items, and other memorabilia that have already been produced and are on the market and for paying for the logo change at the stadium and on team equipment AND letterhead AND new uniforms AND any other expense incurred by the team for making the change. Those kinds of changes ain't cheap and the current team shouldn't be expected to incur the expense when they were not the originators of the name, which was voted into existence four decades ago.

 

[SaintlyAgenda]

wow i knew someone would do something like this great way to make your point

I too was hoping no one would go there earl. But he did make a point. His post offended you because of a name that was used. It wasn't as offensive to others because they are not of the same skin color as you. The point is most of us are not as offended by Redskin as some because we are not 100% Native American.

This entire subject is very touch and I will probably check out of this conversation now because I would never want to offend anyone.

 

[St. PJ]

You should have seen some faces when I first moved to Texas and told a few people I was a coonass. Then my last name is LeBlanc. I had to explain myself that's for sure. So what if my name means "the white." And I am a coonass till the day I die baby. I had a black girlfriend too. It was priceless lolol.

Now I grew up around a lot of true cajuns== the kind that live off the land and english is their second language. They consider the term coonass derogatory because it was meant to be derogatory when it was first termed by texans? because many of the creole men were bedding texan women. so for the cajuns, being called coonass was just like being called nxxxxx, both figuratively and literally.

 

[kade_l]

so then every celebrity can sue the paps for giving them nicknames they dont like. can i sue my wife for calling me stupid during an argument. See where all this crybaby bull is headed?

 

[Flipx99]

Fair enough - but go to those sites about American Indians and there's many examples of them using the word "indians." Show me where the NAACP or the United Negro College Fund talk on their sites about helping "colored people" or "negroes"?

I know. And i think that 99% of the population who has used Indian never meant it is a slur.

And really, the same is true with Redskin. To most it is about as inflammatory as "cowboy."

 

[BoNcHiE]

It's pointless. If anything, such a ruling would bring more attention to a negative topic then not changing anything. It would certainly create a lot of animosity among camps that normally wouldn't think twice about it.

The difference between the word "Redskin" and the "N" word, is that the N word is commonly used as a derogatory term. Noone says Redskin today for anything other then the football team. Even when it was in use more commonly throughout history it was simply a racial description, like saying black guy or white guy. When used as a football team's name it's being used as a term of endearment, not in a derogatory manner.

The Redskins are a longtime NFL team with a rich tradition. They should be able to keep their name.