Quote:
Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
And this really says nothing about anything other than the school's inability to come up with a good name. But it sure beats Redmen.*
I think that after what many Native Americans have gone through in this country, combined with the fact that you can't divorce the image from the team name (Indians with that little red sambo image) or the team name from the image (Redskins from the Native American image they use) I am lead to only one conclusion.
This is the typical bullshit response that I consistently hear whenever someone wants to change something that is offensive on its face. The old, "Well, what's next? Are we going to change the name of the Yankees so as to not offend the one northerner out there who doesn't like it? How far are we going to go?" It's a bullshit argument.
And this type of argument only works in a climate where the group being shit on isn't as numerous or powerful and therefore not as vocal nor as in your face (as in, the 8 people I rode the elevator with today were all Native American and I didn't really want to talk about how the Redskins kicked ass) as blacks, hispanics, asians or jews would be. If there was a team called the New Orleans Negros or the Atlanta Asians, you wouldn't hesistate to say that the names would be completely inappropriate.
The question I keep asking you and everyone else is, why are these names that are so clearly linked to another era, when respect for Native Americans was scarce, so important? Why should they have to face that shit day in and day out because other people's traditions include this type of disrespect?
TM
*Not to be confused with Redman who kicks ass.
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You do realize that the my first comment was a joke, don't you?
And I don't mean to be argumentative here or beat this into the ground, but I'm not sure what your conclusion is, because you didn't address my question about names like "Warriors," "Braves" and "Blackhawks". Let's divorce the names from the logos, shall we? Eliminate them completely or not? I'll be honest, when I was a kid, I didn't even make the connection of "Warriors" to Native Americans. I thought it was a generic term.
I don't know. I think from what I have personally observed, the groups that aren't as numerous and powerful are actually
more vocal about it. Which is understandable. Certainly I can understand the logo being offensive, and maybe it can't be divorced from the name in this case, but I don't know if you asked a majority of Native Americans if they find the term "Indians" offensive on its face, if they would. Maybe so. I just really don't know the answer to that question, because I don't share that experience and that heritage. I don't really have a problem with changing the name, if it came right down to it, but I also don't automatically assume that every name carries with it inherent baggage and disrespect.
