Redskins vs. Caucasians
Political correctness or just denigration?
A few years ago I argued that Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) should not change its nickname from the Indians to anything else. My argument, and the title of the article, was "Political correctness run amok."
The change of the nickname for the IUP athletic teams was ludicrous. They live in a town called Indiana. They live in an educational community called Indiana University of Pa. The U.S. has a state called Indiana.
Were these communities demeaning Indians by use of the name? Of course not.
The town is still called, Indiana, Pa. Now that IUP has changed its nickname to the Hawks, the town is not called "Hawksville."
IUP is still Indiana University of Pa.
No one in the state of Indiana is pushing to change the name.
My basic premise was that the name Indians was never intended as a denigration of the Indians who roamed these mountains centuries ago. It was actually a tribute to the Indians and their culture.
Indeed, if I was overly sensitive, I -- and members of my family -- should really go after Notre Dame. Since I am three-quarters Irish, I should be offended by the nickname "The Fighting Irish." Are they insinuating that the Irish are constantly fighting like a dysfunctional family?
Of course not. Yes, the Irish have fought a few battles over time, but the nickname is a tribute to the tenacity of the Irish. Certainly, Catholics and Protestants have been battling for centuries in Ireland and Northern Ireland in particular, but this was not derogatory.
That is not what the early followers of Notre Dame were thinking. No one knows exactly why the name stuck. One Fighting Irish fan presents a number of possible reasons before ending, "Many fans, alumni and Irishmen simply believe the guts, determination, high-spirited and hard-hitting style of the team earned them the name 'Fighting Irish,' which instantly became popular with the media."
That being the case, the situation with the Washington Redskins is different. Today, the word "Redskins" is definitely thought to have a pejorative connotation despite polls that show that the vast majority of Indians today do not have a problem with the nickname.
For instance, a poll conducted for the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 found that 90 percent of American Indians interviewed in a survey found that the Redskins nickname did not bother them. The question that they asked was very clear: “The professional football team in Washington calls itself the Washington Redskins. As a Native American, do you find that name offensive or doesn’t it bother you?”
<http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/downloads/political_communication/naes/2004_03_redskins_09-24_pr.pdf>.
The word "redskin" was not always intended as pejorative. A linguist at the Smithsonian, Ives Goddard, studied the terms in 2005. He pointed out that the word was intended as positive. It was used by the Native Americans initially as a way of simply distinguishing themselves from their white people who were taking their land from them. Even the Caucasian people used it first as a means of praising the Native Americans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/10/02/AR2005100201139.html
The truth is that names evolve over time. The term Negro was acceptable and much better than the usage of "colored" people until the 1960s. Even Dr. Martin Luther King used the term in his "I have a Dream" speech almost 50 years ago. "And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual."
Attitudes also change, and the Redskins franchise and NFL are under fire to change the name. This is a tricky maneuver and is unlikely to happen in the near future.
Is it different from Indian at IUP? Yes, only because it talks about the color of a person's skin. No one is using the term caucasians for a nickname. That would be pretty stupid.
The NFL and the Redskins organization have dug in over this, which could be good or bad. In either case, the name will not change in the near future.
In truth, I have disliked the Redskins for a long time. I know that George Allen was part of that: "Only two things can happen when you throw the ball, and one of them is bad."
Then I had a boss who was an obnoxious fan.
Regardless, the name is in trouble with many fans. I just hope that they lose ... still crazy after all these years.
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