Onion Article on Redskins

I live in the DC area and this issue was on the radio 106.7 the fan. There were people who claimed to be from the tribes in the DC area that said they do not have an issue with the name. On the other hand I have read some do. I really have not formed an opinion. My issue with the Onion is that two wrongs do not make a right. I understand the article was targeting the owner, but to use any negative racial remarks at anyone is stupid. I think they could have attacked him without using anti Jewish words. I am not Jewish, but some might have been offended some not just like the name Redskins with the natives.

let's call it how it is. sports teams used these terms as a way of intimidation. seriously, calling your team after what the white man used to think of as savages? they aren't "proud" names. they are names to instill fear.

Washington Redskins is no better than calling a team the Vietnam Yellowmen or the Moroccan N****** and you all know it.

And Kat made a good point. I just think that Honky isn't as an offensive term to white people. There was even a WWF rassler that was named the Honky Tonk Man.

Mark Rypien seemed to have no problem earning money playing for the Redskins. hmmmmmmmm

I foresee the next great debate in sporting nicknames to happen in 2023 when PETA finally has a full head of steam ...

Thirty Bills Unpaid wrote:

For the sake of argument, I'm surprised that the 'Yankees' aren't facing some pressure from some Americans about their name. There must be some southerners holding some animosity towards the term. Likewise, I'm sure some northerners do not appreciate the term as well.

They are on the outrage docket slated for 2019. Upcoming high-horse social outrage debates are:

2015: Indians and Braves
2017: Padres
2019: Yankees
2021: Jets
2023: Any animal nickname

brianlux wrote:

Sport team names used to intimidate. Interesting theory. Lets put you theory to a test. HFD. Starting with MLB baseball teams, which names instil intimidation:

Boston Red Sox
Atlanta Braves
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Toronto Blue Jays
New York Mets
Baltimore Orioles
Florida Marlins
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Washington Nationals
Chicago White Sox
St. Louis Cardinals
Cleveland Indians
Houston Astros
Minnesota Twins
Milwaukee Brewers
Detroit Tigers
Chicago Cubs
Kansas City Royals
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
San Diego Padres
Oakland Athletics
San Francisco Giants
Texas Rangers
Arizona Diamondbacks
Seattle Mariners
Los Angeles Dodgers
Colorado Rockies

What- maybe 8 out of 30? Not very scary although I've gotta admit- Angels- pretty fucking scary.

OK, let's try a tougher sport- US football:

Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Oakland Raiders
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Diego Chargers
Tennessee Titans
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
St. Louis Rams
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Redskins

OK, maybe 17 or 18 out of 32 but even then, only a little over half. Sorry, Hugh, not a passing grade.

I didn't say ALL teams use it as a way of intimidation. But it is a factor.

Jason P wrote:

"Eskimo" has been deemed offensive???? I feel like Walter after Smokie marked it an eight ...

In Canada and Greenland the term Eskimo is widely held by the indigenous peoples to be pejorative and has fallen out of favour, largely supplanted by the term Inuit.[1][12][14][17] However, while Inuit describes all of the Eskimo peoples in Canada and Greenland, that is not true in Alaska and Siberia. In Alaska the term Eskimo is commonly used, because it includes both Yupik and Inupiat, while Inuit is not accepted as a collective term or even specifically used for Inupiat (who technically are Inuit). No universal term other than Eskimo, inclusive of all Inuit and Yupik people, exists for the Inuit and Yupik peoples.[1]

In 1977, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference meeting in Barrow, Alaska, officially adopted Inuit as a designation for all circumpolar native peoples, regardless of their local view on an appropriate term. As a result the Canadian government usage has replaced the (locally) defunct term Eskimo with Inuit (Inuk in singular). The preferred term in Canada's Central Arctic is Inuinnaq,[18] and in the eastern Canadian Arctic Inuit. The language is often called Inuktitut, though other local designations are also used.

Jason P wrote:

Thirty Bills Unpaid wrote:

For the sake of argument, I'm surprised that the 'Yankees' aren't facing some pressure from some Americans about their name. There must be some southerners holding some animosity towards the term. Likewise, I'm sure some northerners do not appreciate the term as well.

They are on the outrage docket slated for 2019. Upcoming high-horse social outrage debates are:

2015: Indians and Braves
2017: Padres
2019: Yankees
2021: Jets
2023: Any animal nickname

'Outrage docket'

'high-horse social outrage debates'

RW81233 wrote:

here's the deal names like the yankees, fighting irish, canucks, and habs have been and can be used derogatorily, but they actually represent the people who make up the name and root for the team (or make a majority of those enrolled at the school). Things like Seminoles and Redskins are largely supported by white people who have no idea what actual native traditions are, otherwise they wouldn't fucking do a tomahawk chop, riding white horses to midfield with a flaming spear, or have a name that has been deemed legally racist by our government representing a team that plays under the backdrop of our government. Put differently it would be like having a team on an Indian Reservation, cheered on by Indians, named the Catholics. Only their mascot would come to midfield with a flaming cross and plant it there before games, and hump little boys. That'd be fun :roll:

Try again about Florida State:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/sport ... d=all&_r=0

There was never any doubt where the Seminole Tribe of Florida stood on Florida State University's nickname. The tribe helped university boosters create the costume for the Chief Osceola mascot, approving the face paint, flaming spear and Appaloosa horse that have no connection to Seminole history.

Yesterday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association agreed with the 3,100-member tribe and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, which had also endorsed the nickname. The N.C.A.A. removed Florida State from the list of universities banned from using what it called "hostile and abusive" mascots and nicknames during postseason play.

"The N.C.A.A. executive committee continues to believe the stereotyping of Native Americans is wrong," Bernard Franklin, the association's senior vice president for governance and membership, said in a statement. "However, in its review of the particular circumstances regarding Florida State, the staff review committee noted the unique relationship between the university and the Seminole Tribe of Florida as a significant factor."

A student dressed as Chief Osceola will ride bareback on the Appaloosa horse Renegade to midfield before the season opener against Miami on Sept. 5 in a ceremony indigenous to only Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.

"The N.C.A.A. recognizes the many different points of view on this matter, particularly within the Native American community," Franklin added. "The decision of a namesake sovereign tribe, regarding when and how its name and imagery can be used, must be respected even when others may not agree."

On Aug. 5, the N.C.A.A. executive committee issued the ban, which is scheduled to go into effect in February. The prohibition concerns logos, signs in stadiums, cheerleader and band uniforms, and mascots.

"It's not about an effort to be politically correct," Myles Brand, the president of the N.C.A.A., said in a statement when the ban was announced. "It is about doing the right thing."

Florida State's president, T. K. Wetherell, immediately protested the ban.

"That the N.C.A.A. would now label our close bond with the Seminole people as culturally 'hostile and abusive' is both outrageous and insulting," he said in a statement.

Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said, "The folks that make these decisions need to get out more often." He added that it was offensive to "the Seminole Indian tribe who support the traditions of F.S.U."

After an emergency meeting, the university Board of Trustees filed an appeal with the N.C.A.A. The hearing was held this week, and the decision was announced yesterday.

Because of the pressure from Florida State and other members, the N.C.A.A. said last Friday that it would consider appeals of the ban on a case-by-case basis. The ban would affect 17 other universities with American Indian nicknames or mascots, including Illinois (Illini) and North Dakota (Fighting Sioux).

Support for Florida State is obvious at the Seminole Tribe's showcase Okalee Indian Village in Hollywood, Fla. The village is a small, modern, concrete zoo on the site of the tribe's Hard Rock Casino, adjacent to an Improv comedy club. Under chickees, grass huts that fan out around a cooking pit, women sew patchwork dresses while sitting on garnet-colored nylon F.S.U. football folding chairs.

Seminoles descended from Creek Indians who lived by rivers in Georgia and Alabama. In the 1800's, the federal government torched trees and crops on Indian land, forcing hundreds of Indians south into Florida, where they mixed with aboriginal tribes. Thousands of other Indians were captured and forced to march to Oklahoma along what became known as the Trail of Tears. Continued conflict with the federal government pushed the surviving Seminoles farther down the Florida peninsula, into the Everglades.

The Seminoles are the only American Indian tribe never to sign a formal peace treaty with the United States. To celebrate this status, Florida State erected "Unconquered," a statue of the Chief Osceola mascot, outside its football stadium.

Tribe members survived for a time by selling otter pelts and alligator skins to white settlers in Fort Lauderdale and Miami. When South Florida tourism boomed in the 1920's, Seminoles capitalized by wrestling alligators for money. In 1979, the Seminoles opened the first casino on Indian land, ushering in what has become a multibillion-dollar industry operated by numerous tribes nationwide.

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida split from the Seminoles in the early 1960's, setting up a 33-acre reservation on the northern border of Everglades National Park, about 45 miles west of Miami. As an independent tribe with historical links to the Seminoles, the Miccosukee could have endorsed the N.C.A.A. nickname ban and forced Florida State to comply. But they did not want to.

"The Seminole name, it just makes you pretty much better," said one female Miccosukee, who had a "NOLES" vanity plate on the front bumper of her husband's Ford F-150. She refused to give her name; public comments are what tribal leaders are for, she said.

There are about 550 Miccosukee. Most live in a straight line of concrete houses along the Old Tamiami Trail. The houses overlook miles of sawgrass broken up by hammocks of pine and cypress trees. Fat gray clouds carry summer thunderstorms toward Miami. White herons glide among the hammocks, flying over deer, alligators and otters concealed in the grass.

Throughout the reservation, loyalty to Florida State is declared on mailboxes with "FSU #1 FAN" stickers, and on pickup trucks with vanity plates. A gold tomahawk leans against the facade of one house, next to a small concrete football player rushing over a field of crushed garnet stones.

Affection for the Seminoles is not absolute. Several houses feature University of Miami mailboxes and banners. Joe Cypress, who called himself an "original Seminole," lives on the reservation with his Miccosukee wife and said he had been a Hurricanes fan all his life.

"It don't bother me," he said of the Seminoles nickname and of his neighbors who support Florida State. "We coexist."

Food for thought:

What gets far less attention, though, is this:

There are Native American schools that call their teams Redskins. The term is used affectionately by some natives, similar to the way the N-word is used by some African-Americans. In the only recent poll to ask native people about the subject, 90 percent of respondents did not consider the term offensive, although many question the cultural credentials of the respondents.

All of which underscores the oft-overlooked diversity within Native America.

“Marginalized communities are too often treated monolithically,” said Carter Meland, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota.

“Stories on the mascot issue always end up exploring whether it is right or it is wrong, respectful or disrespectful,” said Meland, an Ojibwe Indian.

He believes Indian mascots are disrespectful, but said: “It would be interesting to get a sense of the diversity of opinion within a native community.”
_____________________

The Full article is here:
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/10/ ... is-a-slur/