At what point does a derogatory and offensive team name - the Washington Redskins - become unacceptable? The answer is in the past tense.
For a team that is over 80 years old and represents our nation's capital, it is a sad reflection of our country that there is a prominent, professional team name that so shamelessly upsets a substantial amount of people.
This week, President Barack Obama addressed the issue in an interview with the Associated Press, saying if he were the owner of the team he would "consider changing the name."
And what he further expanded on is a pivotal part of the problem: fans getting attached to merchandise and mascots, team names and traditions. Here in Buffalo, we certainly know what it means for people to develop an allegiance to a professional sports team. But our team name does not offend people. And what Redskins fans need to recognize is that it is time to have the courage to sacrifice their adherence to their team for the sake of doing what is morally right.
Many sports writers have boycotted even using the team name. Tim Graham of The Buffalo News never refers to them as the 'Redskins.' He instead uses simply 'Washington' or 'the Washington football team.'
Washington teams have dealt with this type of issue before. Its basketball team used to be called the Washington Bullets until Abe Pollin, the former owner, changed the name to the Wizards due to the soaring rate of gun violence in the city.
Like the Redskins are now, the Bullets were a storied franchise. But Pollin felt an ethical obligation to change the name. It was for the sake of promoting positive values.
This is something Dan Synder, the owner of the Redskins, should consider.
American Indians are one of the most marginalized groups of people in the nation. They have been horrendously mistreated and are victims of numerous broken treaties by the U.S. government.
A major misconception, however, permeating the public mindset is that American Indians' presence has been reducing dramatically and will lessen more and more with time.
As of 2010, the estimated population of American Indians and Alaska Natives was around 2.9 million, making up 0.9 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But the current projection for 2050 is around 8.6 million, making up 2 percent of the population.
Regardless of the truth that there are more American Indians living amongst us than many choose to believe, it is a solemn and serious issue that many choose to ignore: The name 'Redskins' is a hateful and odious term for nearly 1 percent of Americans.
'Redskin' carries connotations of savagery - of barbarous heathens. It is a depiction that Marlon Brando objected to when he asked Sacheen Littlefeather to accept his Academy Award for his performance in The Godfather. The message was that Hollywood, through producing movies and television re-runs that portrayed American Indians negatively, was abhorrent - and these portrayals were dominating the medium and influencing public perception.
This only further circulated a racist stereotype.
And the Redskins are now doing the same thing. We are now living in a more politically correct time. We have reached the point in which even the president of the United States has expressed issue with the name.
But Snyder has remained intransigent. "We'll never change the name," he told USA Today in May. "It's that simple. NEVER. You can use caps."
Well, looking through the annals of history, usage of the word 'never' has often preceded moments of important social change and transitions.
We hope it is sooner rather than later that Snyder's 'never' gets added to that list.
email: editorial@ubspectrum.com
