REDSKINS
2-MINUTE WARNING
Next time you see someone identified as Native American,
call him a "redskin" to his face.
OFF THE RESERVATION
"It looks to me like Snyder would rather be the center of power on a losing team than a peripheral figure on a winning one."—Sally Jenkins, The Washington Post
New England Honkys, Kansas City Kikes, Philadelphia Micks, St. Louis Krauts...and the Washington Redskins, an ethnic slur by any other name.
The Washington franchise is the only team in the NFL that supports a human mascot. Zema Williams, well-known African-American fan of the Washington Redskins dresses in Native American tradition with headdress and tomahawk, assuming the alter-ego of "Chief Zee" since 1978 while attending local NFL football games. This abashment has no place in the 21st Century, triviality of the so-called "American Indian" having been marginalized to the point of diminishing return.
Tom Cruise may or may not be the team's de facto mascot, but the Washington Redskins will not win the Superbowl as long as they bare that name; that contemptuous word—"redskin"—is a curse along with the team's owner, Dan Snyder.
It's pretty good odds this has been asked, oh, about a thousand times:
WHY NOT CHANGE THE NAME?
A derogatory term used by those who usurped their tribal land, destroyed their way of life and decimated their population, in spirit and in truth the word doesn't pay tribute but recalls an apocalyptic darkness in American history; a hateful expression insulting Native American people and disdained many fans of football.
Centuries of depredation by the United States government through poor policies and broken treaties inspired the infliction of violence, genocidal maltreatment and fatal neglect upon native people.
As an African American with Native American blood, I refer to the team as "skins" or "Washington". And seeing how each of their losses is like that slow-moving zombie—avoiding defeat that only puts off the inevitable—the "Redskins" have in fact been around for a very long time.
A little history...
George Preston Marshall (1896–1969) in 1932 with three partners acquired a National Football League franchise for the City of Boston known as the Boston Braves. The team played on the same field as the baseball's franchise, also called the Boston Braves. Marshall's partners left the operation following the first season leaving him in control, then in 1933 he moved the enterprise to Fenway Park and renamed the team the Redskins.
By 1937 he had transplanted the franchise to Washington D.C. but declined to employ African-American ballplayers fearing the loss of fans in the racially divided southern states.
For decades, generations of Native Americans had publicly expressed no discord over the name "Washington Redskins"; a population long ago beaten into obsequious submission, embracing this perception as their reality when reality indeed became the popular perception. But as it is with each succeeding generation, memory blurs such "reality" and common wisdom is that the epithet—"redskin"—not only denigrates Native American people but also ignores the elementary and obvious fact that it does.
The word is (and has always been) a "socialized" racist slur attached to all things associated with the Washington football franchise. But now the team's current owner, Dan Snyder must face this new generation of Native Americans dejected by the word "redskin" while seeking legally remedy to discontinue the trademark.
Still, what's the big deal?
By birth, I'm not only African-American but also part Native American with ancestral roots in North Carolina and Virginia; the Haliwa-Saponi group based chiefly in Halifax County, formally receiving recognition by the State of North Carolina in 1965 as a band descended from the historical Saponi (long ago emigrating into Pennsylvania and, like so many tribal people, disseminated into extinction). Being part of a people once vilified to the point of genocide until no longer deemed a threat, naturally I'm bias when it comes to this issue.
But yet I try to think objectively.
The audacity of a football team in the 21st Century continuing to call itself the "Washington Redskins" has its fans caught up in the utter fury to understand the history of white hostility toward an entire race of people whose tribal lands were expropriated and its members relegated to concentration camps known as "Indian reservations".
So what's the big deal? Next time you see someone identified as a Native American, call him a "redskin" to his face.
That's of little concern to owner Daniel M. ("Money-bags") Snyder; his interest is not in changing the name but in exploiting it. However, should trademark protection be lifted, anyone could use the term "redskins" at no cost and the name would loose value, costing the NFL and Snyder's enterprise millions.
November 16, 2009 the United States Supreme Court sided with the franchise against Native Americans plaintiffs in settling the dispute over "redskins" being a derogatory expression violating standards for decency. Avoiding a name change saves Snyder's organization not only from suffering financially with the loss of royalties but also losing scores of fans.
Football players spend a lot of time under that helmet which bares a noble image. Okay, just a thought: What if the team called itself the "Washington Pickaninnies" with the logo of "Little Black Sambo"? And when African-Americans question this, the owner merely says, "It's a tribute. It's honorific." Wouldn't you think that African-American ballplayers on the Washington team might give the name "redskins" a moment's thought? Clearly not. Minorities employed by that organization don't have these thoughts. Besides, what's the point in giving Dan Snyder a good talking-to? Why should they whale away at the owner for not changing the name, when these jocks have grown comfortably accustom to the soft and lofty cushion provided by Snyder's largesse?
A choice between biting the hand that feeds or feathering the nest... and yet if the team called itself the "Washington Niggers", would the players object?
Given the money involved, the answer might be decided with a coin toss.
Frederick Louis Richardson
© Copyright 2009 DreaMerchant® All Rights Reserved
