The stands are filling up, people are going in to watch their favorite teams and having a great time. There will be tail gate parties, beer, pretzels, and bon fires.
And, there will again be controversy over the name of one of the teams.
The Washington Redskins.
For those of you not familiar with this controversy, many folks in the Native American population would like to see the team from Washington change their name to something less racial offensive.
Years ago when the name was chosen, I am sure that no one meant to offend anyone. No one said, "Lets see what group of people we can really tick off and name a team after them..."
The people involved probably had no idea that the term "redskin" is taken as an offensive racial slur by many US and Canadian Natives. It is highly possible that they did not exert good old common sense, but I doubt anyone had an agenda to hurt anyone. The Washington team was looking for a mascot or slogan. When looking for a mascot for a team, what would you want to portray?
You would want to use something that would give a symbolic feeling and understanding of strength, integrity, agility, and stamina. We have Giants, Jets, Patriots, Cowboys, Eagles, etc., etc. All these symbols show an embodiment of what someone might look for as a team! So, when the people came up with the term "redskin", they were also trying to show a great force, something special. In its own way, it may have been a tribute to Natives, as it reflected that the team wanted to show the strength, force, and perseverance that only someone of that culture could show. Unfortunately, the term "redskin" is not very sensitive to the peoples in which it refers.
Many Natives take the term "redskin" as a very serious racial insult. To a Native, calling him or her a "redskin" is akin to calling an African-American the "N" word, or calling a Hispanic person the "S" word. While I am certain that in this day and age that we would not call a team the "Atlanta N-Words" or the "New York S-Words" (not because we are so P.C., but simply because it is simply wrong to do), we are still using what should possibly be the "R-Word" as a team.
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