Redskins name controversy

[Green Habit]

It is fascinating on how this picked up so much steam in the past year or so. This is hardly a new controversy.

[numbers]

Can we not act like this is anything other than some lawyers trying to make a buck?

[MadTIGERmaN]

Can we not act like this is anything other than some lawyers trying to make a buck?

Natives Americans have been protesting this name LONG before Lawyers got involved.
National protests began after the 1988 super bowl.
I clearly remember large groups of Native Americans outside the 92 super bowl in Minnesota, over 2000 led by the American Indian Movement.

This was never about a lawyer making money
and their has always been a group of Native Americans that wanted the name changed. IT just took this long for everyone else to listen.

[96583UP]

google defines Yankee as a derogatory term for a person from the US

US citizens, please explain why you are / are not offending by the name of the New York Yankees baseball team

[darth_vedder]

Everyone jumping on the bandwagon to change the name really also needs to read the below article. This is also where I was going with my post about the one guy and his casino stuff....I was kinda drunk and worded it awfully, but this is where I was going with that statement.

http://melvinphillipsstory.com/

---------------

The legitimacy of self-proclaimed “civil rights” activist, Ray Halbritter, has been called into question by documents obtained by full-blooded Oneida Indian, Melvin Phillips. Phillips claims that Halbritter has hijacked the Oneida culture to prop up a casino empire to enrich himself, Las Vegas interests, Washington lobbyists and questionable politicians. In the attached public video, Halbritter in his own words describes his leadership role as, “He who has the gold, makes the rules.”

Mr. Phillips supports the Washington Redskins and does not believe that the name is offensive to Native Americans. Phillips said, “This move by Halbritter is the ultimate hypocrisy. First he tries to take our land and now is trying to take away the Redskins team name which honors our people. The next thing he will do is kick us off the nickel.”

The 76 year old Phillips has resided on land reserved for the Orchard Party/Marble Hill Oneida Indians pursuant to the 1838 Treaty of Buffalo Creek and the 1842 Treaty signed with New York State. Phillips, is a direct descendant of the Oneida Indians who are members of the Six Nations – one of the well-known historic tribes of New York.

According to the attached document obtained from the National Archives, Halbritter’s blood ancestry is NOT as a member of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. In order to be an Oneida member you have to be a one quarter blood member of the Six Nations through matrilineal descent, which the document states Halbritter is not. According to Phillips, Halbritter’s campaign against the Washington Redskins is nothing more than a calculated attempt to gain national attention and to distract from the highly questionable operations he overseas in New York.

[darth_vedder]

http://httr4life.com/native-americans-s ... d-redskin/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/317330241748720/

[Green Habit]

google defines Yankee as a derogatory term for a person from the US

US citizens, please explain why you are / are not offending by the name of the New York Yankees baseball team

I'm offended by the New York Yankees, but wasn't offended when I was called a Yank (or seppo) in Australia. Go figure.

[Bammer]

Whatever happens, I think Bammer will agree with me that any change should not involve pulling a UND and going without any mascot. That refers to the football program now run by Coach Pete in Seattle.

Gotta admit you lost me here. What do UND (Notre Dame? North Dakota?), Coach Pete/UW, and a controversial mascot name have in common?

[Bammer]

At this point, I'm just sick of the debate, and would rather stick to talking football and if RG3 can comeback and lead the team to the playoffs.

Well that's a pretty short conversation and it goes something like this: No, he's not.

[Green Habit]

Whatever happens, I think Bammer will agree with me that any change should not involve pulling a UND and going without any mascot. That refers to the football program now run by Coach Pete in Seattle.

Gotta admit you lost me here. What do UND (Notre Dame? North Dakota?), Coach Pete/UW, and a controversial mascot name have in common?

North Dakota was forced by the NCAA to drop their Fighting Sioux mascot, and they've just gone without one for now.

However, when I hear just "Washington" all by itself in regards to football, that should refer to the Huskies, not the Redskins or whatever name it could have. Even worse is when lazy people say "Washington state" even when there's no risk of confusion with Washington, DC. That should refer to Wazzu, not the entire state. That's why I said it would be cool if a renamed Redskins went all the way and used DC in its name instead.

[Bammer]

So just call the team "Washington" (which in many ways is more offensive considering all the political hacks that fuck our country up) and be done with it.

As I hinted at earlier, that would annoy me because I think of the Huskies when I hear the name Washington standalone in football terms.

And on a similar note, regardless of where you stand I think it's not the correct move for some in the media to avoid using the name. The name of the team is the Washington Redskins, whether you like it or not. If you think the word is toxic then you owe it to your readers to make the fact clear of exactly what that word is so you can demonstrate your point.

Ah, now I see.

I have always wished they call their teams DC rather than Washington.

The DC Nationals, DC Wizards, etc.

[Green Habit]

At this point, I'm just sick of the debate, and would rather stick to talking football and if RG3 can comeback and lead the team to the playoffs.

Well that's a pretty short conversation and it goes something like this: No, he's not.

Dude, they play in the NFC East. Given that division's recent track record 9-7 or even 8-8 might be enough to make the playoffs. And yet they'll still get way too many primetime appearances...

[Green Habit]

So just call the team "Washington" (which in many ways is more offensive considering all the political hacks that fuck our country up) and be done with it.

As I hinted at earlier, that would annoy me because I think of the Huskies when I hear the name Washington standalone in football terms.

And on a similar note, regardless of where you stand I think it's not the correct move for some in the media to avoid using the name. The name of the team is the Washington Redskins, whether you like it or not. If you think the word is toxic then you owe it to your readers to make the fact clear of exactly what that word is so you can demonstrate your point.

Ah, now I see.

I have always wished they call their teams DC rather than Washington.

The DC Nationals, DC Wizards, etc.

Damn straight.

[Bammer]

Yeah yeah, NFC East is crap. True.


Anyway back on topic...

This is a high profile story. Hard to get any higher profile in 'Murica than the NFL. If this name change happens (is forced) I can see the trickle down already.

What becomes of a city named Lynchburg? Not sure how it got its name but certainly there are negative conotations.

The Seattle Times recently ran a story about a tiny village in Spain (maybe it was a national AP story? Anyone else see this?). I forget the Spanish name but it's meaning was something to the effect of "Jew Killers Hill" or something like that. Even there you have people defending the name and honoring its history.

What I'm saying is, be prepared for a lot more stories like this and grab your popcorn - surely the points of view from people fighting to keep names like "Jew Killers Hill" are going to be entertaining.

[Green Habit]

Yeah yeah, NFC East is crap. True.


Anyway back on topic...

This is a high profile story. Hard to get any higher profile in 'Murica than the NFL. If this name change happens (is forced) I can see the trickle down already.

What becomes of a city named Lynchburg? Not sure how it got its name but certainly there are negative conotations.

The Seattle Times recently ran a story about a tiny village in Spain (maybe it was a national AP story? Anyone else see this?). I forget the Spanish name but it's meaning was something to the effect of "Jew Killers Hill" or something like that. Even there you have people defending the name and honoring its history.

What I'm saying is, be prepared for a lot more stories like this and grab your popcorn - surely the points of view from people fighting to keep names like "Jew Killers Hill" are going to be entertaining.

I do think there's plenty of things named that are worse than the Redskins. Places in the South named after Confederate leaders immediately come to mind.

[BigRedLedbetter]

Just name them the Washington Bullets.

[BurtReynolds]

Heh, I'm from (Nathan Bedford) Forrest county. Go Rebels.

[96583UP]

google defines Yankee as a derogatory term for a person from the US

US citizens, please explain why you are / are not offending by the name of the New York Yankees baseball team

for all of the attempts on this issue at argument via analogy, the NY Yankees scenario strikes me as potentially the most apt.

why aren't they changing the Yankees name? does the argument go something like this:

well that's a fairly antiquated term for one. it sort of conjures more of a nostalgia for a time long passed than it does anger for its use in certain contexts as derogatory. I'm confident in my identity and think that generally when it's used today, its not used to make me feel bad about being american. it's just used to reference the sports team.

and is that not similar to the 'Redskin' term?

this is the part where smallpox blankets and racist uses from old timey newspapers would be cited, or the difference between making light of a skin color versus a nationality would be cited, i suppose. but has anyone here, other than by staring at the word on twitter 1000 times or attempting to diagram it's use in a sentence from a deposition, actually ever heard it used in a defamatory context in the modern era?

i do not agree that it is imperatively racist just because someone has used it that way in the past, or in the present, to try to cause pain to another, when the majority of its use does not have to do with hate, rather a sports team.

honestly, I do feel offended when I am referred to as a Yankee when I am overseas or down south. But I am not gonna get my panties in a bunch about it because i know that the defect has more to do with the individual using it rather than the word itself, because in a different context it is not offensive at all.

[Green Habit]

I looked through the old board and found this old post of mine. It also got your seal of approval, Bammer.

http://archive.theskyiscrape.com/viewto ... 19#p228319

<sarcasm>

Well, let's just try to shoot down every mascot in the NFL:

PETA has already been mad at the Packers (1) for glorifying an industry that participates in the murder of animals. But why stop there? I'm sure that any animal is mis-represented by a group of macho men.

So, there goes the Bills, Dolphins, Ravens, Bengals, Colts, Jaguars, Broncos, Eagles, Lions, Bears, Falcons, Panthers, Rams, Cardinals and Seahawks. (16)

The Redskins (17) and Chiefs (18 ) have already been mentioned.

Clearly the Vikings (19) glorify a group of quite murderous individuals. But there are plenty of other violent groups glorified as well: the Cowboys (20), the Patriots (21), and if you count the Crusades, the Saints (22). Of course, the most bloodthirsty of them all are the Buccaneers (23) and Raiders (24).

The Raiders are also bad to glorify because of their gang affiliation. But let's not forget the Jets (25), made famous as a gang from West Side Story.

We also have those groups that rape the environment: the Steelers (26), the 49ers (27), and in the old days, the Oilers. Hell, even the Chargers (28 ) encourage a waste of electricity.

I'm sure those who were born abnormally large are offended by the Titans (29) and Giants (30) making light of their condition.

Finally, aren't the Texans (31) just plain offensive to begin with, first electing Dubya and all?

So, should we all be Cleveland Browns fans? Or is naming a team after one human being still demeaning to him?

[Bammer]

I would lkke to thank you in advance for not digging up any more posts from my 20's.

Thank you.