The recent controversy regarding the Washington Redskins, specifically the use of the word “Redskins”, has brought a lot of attention not only to Dan Snyder and the Redskins organization but as well as the representation of Native Americans throughout the professional and collegiate sports world. The main issue headlined in the media today is that the owner Dan Snyder should change the name of the Washington Redskins to something more suitable for modern times. My response to that is:
“Who Gives a Shit?”
The Washington Redskins first stepped onto the field in 1933, and it baffles my mind how this issue about their “name” has been blown completely out of proportion in almost what, a hundred years later? The Redskins franchise has won numerous amounts of Championships and Super Bowl titles and has had a cast of past greats such as Joe Theismann and Doug Williams, as well as modern day superstars such as Clinton Portis and RG3. Not to mention that the Redskins franchise itself has been named the third most valuable franchise in the NFL for who knows how long?
Besides the Redskins illustrious history, the main issue I have as well as many others have is the reasoning behind changing the name itself. The word “Redskin” originated back when English Settlers first immigrated to North America. At that time the settlers probably did not know what to call their crimson-skinned brethren, so in order to differentiate themselves from the Native Americans, they just devised a nickname that we know now as Redskins. A bit out of the ordinary? Yes. Racist? No. Clever? Not really. Still, the nickname they devised worked for the time being and eventually over time, once the interactions between settlers and Native Americans picked up, they learned of the names of the actual tribes they came from, and as a result, the term Redskin was no longer needed.
I agree, the term “Redskin” is a little outdated, but that is the point, its outdated. It no longer has a meaning associated with the term it once was. It’s just a cool sounding arrangement of letters that spells Redskin. That’s it. I mean obviously the term still means Native American, but for the people who say that the Redskins organization is racist for using the term Redskins, they are taking the term way out of context. In contrary the Redskins franchise is not racist and deeply acknowledges the rich history of its former Chesapeake Bay glory days and has continued to display a love and affection to the Native Americans from their region. Don’t believe me? Here are a few lines from their fight song, "Hail to the Redskins":
“Hail to the Redskins!”
“Hail Victory!”
“Braves on the Warpath!”
“Fight for old D.C.!”
Interpreting things to be the literal meaning often does help when trying to persuade individuals to fight for a cause and should be avoided when trying to win an argument. If I told you that six-foot tall dinosaurs play basketball in Toronto, would you believe me? It is true, no matter how stupid that sounded. Such is the Redskins case, where people vouch for their name change based on the literal meaning of “red-skinned Native Americans”. To those people I ask what is your reasoning behind targeting only the Redskins? There are plenty of other team names you can take the literal meaning for and make that racist as well. A common household name in college football is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Everyone knows what knows what Notre Dame is, but what is exactly a “Fighting Irish”? Well, if you are familiar with the Irish, you would know the common stereotype is that they are heavy drunks. And along with that drunkenness, tempers flare into a cue stick holding, mean-mugging, pub rampage, which is force to be reckoned with. Kind of like the Notre Dame football team. Actually, that’s kind of an understatement. So what do you think? Should the Notre Dame “Fighting Irish” be renamed the Notre Dame “Drunk Irish Men”? I personally would love that.
The point is, sports teams are supposed to be fun. That is why people watch them. No real sports fan cares about what their team actually is or what they once represented. They just care about if they can win the next game and eventually bring home the most priceless memento a team can bring home to their city, a championship. I am not Redskins fan, but I do understand where most Redskins fans and executives are coming from. There is a rich history within that franchise and changing the name of a team that has been engraved in the minds and hearts of so many is a painful pill to swallow. Although Dan Snyder did not help his case, he did what any die-hard sports fan would do, and that is to back his team up no matter what people think. All we can do now is wait and see if the Redskins give into pressure and change their name. In the meantime, we can all give our undivided attention to the Falcons as they try to bounce back and hopefully get into the wild card race. Rise Up!
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