During the month of May, 10 United States congressmen went public calling for the NFL’s Washington Redskins to change their name to a moniker that wouldn’t stereotype or be racially insensitive to Native Americans.
In the letter that not only was addressed to Redskins owner Dan Snyder but to the other 31 NFL owners and commissioner Roger Goodell, the 10 congressmen stated:
“Such offensive epithets would no doubt draw wide-spread disapproval among the NFL’s fan base. Yet the national coverage of Washington’s NFL football team profits from a term that is equally disparaging to Native Americans.”
“In this day and age, it is imperative that you uphold your moral responsibility to disavow the usage of racial slurs. The usage of the [“R-word”] is especially harmful to Native American youth, tending to lower their sense of dignity and self-esteem. It also diminishes feelings of community worth among the Native American tribes and dampens the aspirations of their people.”
In a letter dated June 5th, 2013, commissioner Roger Goodell attempted to address Tom Cole and Betty McCollum, the co-chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus defending the Redskins’ name:
So after muttering every lame excuse for keeping DC’s football team as the Redskins, Eni Faleomavaega, the delegate from American Samoa, unsurprisingly fired back at Goodell calling his response “insensitive and ignorant.” while Betty McCollum released this statement also condemning Goodell’s response:
Unfortunately, NFL Commissioner Goodell’s letter is another attempt to justify a racial slur on behalf of Dan Snyder and other NFL owners who appear to be only concerned with earning ever larger profits, even if it means exploiting a racist stereotype of Native Americans. For the head of a multi-billion dollar sports league to embrace the twisted logic that ‘Redskin’ actually ‘stands for strength, courage, pride, and respect’ is a statement of absurdity.
Would Roger Goodell and Dan Snyder actually travel to a Native American community and greet a group tribal members by saying, ‘Hey, what’s up redskin?’ I think not. (“Hey, what’s up redskin” is a quote from materials provided to my office by the NFL, along with the claim that “Redskins” is a “term of endearment” among Native Americans.)
In March Faleomavaega introduced a bill to the U.S. congress that would cancel any trademarks that used the term Redskin.
But when it comes to the Redskins name, let’s be real here Mr. Goodell, it’s not continuing to respect a group of people or convey a positive meaning amongst football fans in the DC area or around the World. Dan Snyder and Roger Goodell have no interest in changing the name simply because of the Redskins’ brand and nothing else.
Currently the Redskins have the third highest monetary value in the league with the brand alone being worth an estimated $131 million. Unfortunately I can pretty much guarantee you that the “courage”, “strength” and “honor” that Goodell claims the name represents has nothing to do with the team’s bottom line.
And there’s plenty of other lines Goodell uses that are pretty standard amongst the defenders of the name and other racially insensitive monikers in sports. For instance you always here of those polls taken amongst Native Americans stating they’re perfectly cool with the Redskins nickname. Not to say there’s Native American’s out there who are fine with the name but quite frankly there’s also plenty of disparaging polls out there that don’t accurately convey statistics and data. Not to mention this seems to be a non-issue with the high ups in the Redskins organization so you have to question just how seriously are they taking this. Furthermore Goodell cites a Native American chief who says “We call each other redskins”. Ok well like Betty McCollum said in her statement, let’s see Mr. Goodell and Mr. Snyder travel to a Native American community and refer to the members as ‘redskins’. Where exactly would that get them?
“I think it’s a non-issue and it’s been a non-issue for decades. We really don’t get the talk that other people get because we hear from our fans. And our fans will always be our fans of the Washington Redskins.” -Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen
“We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use all caps.” -Redskins owner Dan Snyder in an interview with USA Today
Again though I’m not denying that some Native American’s use this derogatory term amongst themselves. I’m sure we’ve all heard some African American’s call each other the N-word before. I personally don’t condone either action and I certainly don’t condone a multi million dollar corporate entity further exploiting a group of people with the help of a racially insensitive nick name.
But let’s be hypothetical here, let’s go along with the logic of those who agree with the name and Goodell’s excuses that it conveys pride, respect and whatever BS positive term he could dwell up. Isn’t this further promoting stereotypes? Would it then be okay to call an accounting firm “Yellowskins Accounting” since Asians are clearly good with numbers? Or what about “Brownskins Landscaping” since Hispanics are obviously pros when it comes to gardening? You could even call the proposed LA team the “Blackskins” since African Americans have always demonstrated tremendous speed and athleticism.
See how ridiculous that is?
You could also probably save the Notre Dame Fighting Irish or Boston Celtic arguments for another time. Both teams were established by predominately white founders who chose a nickname that conveyed Notre Dame University’s various Irish roots and Boston’s historical Irish heritage. And if you’re claiming that racially insensitive names like “Redskins” or racially insensitive logos like “Chief Wahoo” help keep the memory of Native American’s alive, try picking up a book and stop relying on sports to educate yourself on American History.
h/t: CNN, Deadspin, SportsGrid, Washington Post, USA Today
