ESPN: American Indians look to high court (Merged)

[Disegn]

If the Redskins had to change there name what would it be?

I would say the G.I's

The Washington G.I's

Then the GI's would get sued for defaming the sacred honor of being a GI.

[BuryYourDuke]

Then the GI's would get sued for defaming the sacred honor of being a GI.

I like to wash my gi after training. Otherwise it gets pretty stinky.

[Destino]

Who was Buffalo Bill, and how did he make his name?

He slaughtered buffalo wholesale. He's responsible for killing thousands of him on his own, and tens of thousands with his crew.

In almost every history of Native Americans that there is, the decimation of the buffalo is listed as a major contributing factor to the destruction of their way of life.

The Bills not only name themselves after this guy who helped destroy the Native way of life, but they add insult to injury by depicting the animal he helped hunt to near extinction on the side of their helmet.

What a slap in the face.

That's why I say that until they figure out what is TRULY offensive, I don't care about them reaching for low hanging fruit for money or fame. Because they have yet to do so (to my knowledge), then it becomes painfully obvious that their motivations are not to stop an insult.

~Bang

That's not a view point I had considered, certainly an interesting way of looking at things. He later became a conservationist though but I suspect that was only so he wouldn't run out of Buffalo to kill now that he and people like him had slaughtered almost all of them.

[InsaneBoost]

Well I think I'm going to sue all the food companies who make crackers, I find it very offensive because I am Caucasian!

[JetSkins]

Snyder will settle by allowing the tribe to build a casino inside Fedex Field while sharing some of the profits

[ST is my boy]

If we ever did have to change our name....in all seriousness.....is there ANY name out there that will not sound awful?

I just feel like we have been the redskins so long.....anything is going to sound terrible.

The "Wizards" still makes me cringe.

[Spooky]

I am from New Mexico and I am part Indian (grandmother) and I never heard this discussed until I moved to the DC area and seen it on the news. There are an unusual amount of Skins where I am from. They also seem to be tolerated on the the near by apache reservation. I was talking to one girl on the reservation, she wanted to know where I got my skins hat. He boyfriend was a big fan. She said that most people she knew hated the pukes and to find anything with a Redskins logo was impossible.

[MumboSauce]

You gotta be kidding me, people called Native American Red men for years in the past. Of course their skin is no more red than a Caucasions is white or an African Americans is black, but it was a term, stop acting like it didn't exist.

If you aren't one of those people you can't tell them to get off it. I don't know if their reasoning is genuine or not, or if there is some other motive...but unless you are of that people, all the , they are silly, or need to get over it talk makes you look like a prick not them...all because it jeopardizes the name and the logo of a football team you love.

If it keeps coming up over a course of 20years or better, then it must be a problem. If not it wouldn't keep coming up.

I'm in a position of, it doesn't bother me..I like the color combination more than anything. If it(name/logo) stays the same, I'm a fan, if it were changed I'm a fan.

I seriously doubt it changes though. The product sells too well.

and yes I can't stand the fact the Bullets are the Wizards now. ughhh.

[IrepDC]

I believe I read somewhere that the number of American Indians who find the name offensive is very small and that they represent a vast minority of the population.

My personal opinion is that, at worst, we may eventually have to replace the Indian-head logo with something else (spear, feathers, etc.) but I'm not even sure that will happen.

I have many relatives who are Native American who despise the name and the team as a whole, because of the name.

[laxpck]

Maybe they are just tired of having that name associated with a par football team.

ZING!

But seriously, isnt there some firewater or beads we can give these people to make them be quiet.

ZING AGAIN!

How about if we give them a casino?

ZING ZING ZING!!!

Man I hate work. If it truly offends them then I guess we should change it. But there are a lot more mascots who offend all types of people.

[Hazel-Ra]

Funny how the term Redskins is targeted for archaic negative connotations but the group that caused them to be pushed to reservations is celebrated as "America's Team"

If they did change the name, Danny should rename them the Bullets as a big F.U. to PC police everywhere. Or based off their success the last decade ther's always the Washington Generals.

[Arsenic]

grrrr.... :doh:

We should've whiped them out while we had the chance

I'm joking, of course...

On a more serious note, I hear the Amish people are angry about the "Chargers".

[laxpck]

Funny how the term Redskins is targeted for archaic negative connotations but the group that caused them to be pushed to reservations is celebrated as "America's Team"

If they did change the name, Danny should rename them the Bullets as a big F.U. to PC police everywhere. Or based off their success the last decade ther's always the Washington Generals.

That just depends on WHAT generals your a revering by making them a mascot now doesnt it.

AND IF THEY REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT THE CAUSE OF THE DEMISE OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN THEY COULD LOOK NO FARTHER THAN

http://www.wyzant.com/Gunpowder_football_tutors.aspx

FOR PUBLIC ENEMY #1.......GUNPOWDER

[elkabong82]

You gotta be kidding me, people called Native American Red men for years in the past. Of course their skin is no more red than a Caucasions is white or an African Americans is black, but it was a term, stop acting like it didn't exist.

If you aren't one of those people you can't tell them to get off it. I don't know if their reasoning is genuine or not, or if there is some other motive...but unless you are of that people, all the , they are silly, or need to get over it talk makes you look like a prick not them...all because it jeopardizes the name and the logo of a football team you love.

If it keeps coming up over a course of 20years or better, then it must be a problem. If not it wouldn't keep coming up.

I'm in a position of, it doesn't bother me..I like the color combination more than anything. If it(name/logo) stays the same, I'm a fan, if it were changed I'm a fan.

I seriously doubt it changes though. The product sells too well.

and yes I can't stand the fact the Bullets are the Wizards now. ughhh.

So you haven't considered that the reasoning behind them wanting the Redskins name changed might be faulty, just as the reasoning behind changing the Bullets name was?

I mean, they said they wanted to change the Bullets name because some people were offended by it, and that the name "promoted violence" in a city with a very high murder rate. So because some people felt "Bullets" promoted vionce, and hey, some of them had families affected by such violence, does that mean none of us can tell them that their belief or viewpoint might be misguided?

And as another poster pointed out, polling showed 91% of Native Americans did not take offense to Redskins name. So should we simply satisfy the 9% that are offended?

If they considered the history of the team name, where the Native American theme came from, and why we stuck with and then changed to "Redskins" I think the minority of people offended would shrink even further.

If the term was meant to be derogatory, which yes, at one point more than a hundred years ago it was, then why would a team call themselves such? Whatever a team names itself, its because the team wants to embody the symbol behind the name. In this case, we wanted to continue with the "warrior" symbol inherited from when we were first formed in Boston as the Braves (many football teams adopted the name of city's baseball team, it;s why we have the NY Football Giants, and why Football is in their name). Had the baseball team in Boston been named something non-Native American, I seriosuly doubt we'd have the Redskin name today.

[FrFan]

Here we go again, it seems that it will never stops. I don't see anything offensive or disrespectfull.

[LuvtheSkins428]

The Iron Maiden song "Run to the Hills" mentions the term Redskins, but that's about all I've heard.

I get why the name SEEMS racist, but Native Americans don;t actually have red skin, and I have never in my life heard somone or heard of someone using redskin as a derogatory term. If it was that big of a deal to most Native Americans, which the polls as another poster posted in here confirm it isn;t, then I doubt we would have had an American Indian head coach under that name.

I understand the Celeveland Indians being offensive. Native Americans aren't Indians, the madcot has a cartoonish face and is named "Chief Knock-a-homer". I can understand going after the Buffalo Bills.

But going after a team name that isn't actually racist, but was originally named the Boston Braves, as many football teams back then kept the names of the baseball teams in the cities they played for, in part as marketing strategy, then was changed to the Redskins shortly before they moved to Washington, in honor of our Native American head coach (at least according to Marshall).

The intent isn't there, and proper prioritization would typically dictate that you'd go after the very offensive teams, like the Bills or Cleveland Indians. Some people see "redskin" and assume racism without every learning the history.

I agree. From what I understand, they were named the REDskins to go along with the RED sox when they were formed in Boston.

[NomadicSkinFan]

:hysterical:

Or a group of pirates get the buccaneers to change their name.

Or how about PETA file a complaint against the Bengals for cruelty to animals for disparaging all tigers by sucking for decades.

[isle-hawg]

I think the name Redskins is safe. I could see them compromising by removing the logo. Who knows though.

The name would go before our logo, the logo itself is anything but disrespectfull. I wish this would just stop already.

[dakotaskinsfan]

I live in an area with a high population of Native Americans and have had this conversation come up time to time. Majority think its a good thing. My sister in law's boyfriend's dad is full native american and his favorite team is the skins due to he thought the indian head logo look noble and represented his culture well.

When the NCAA made the North Dakota Fighting souix change their name of course the skins were then discussed around here. The NA Population here were in agreement that both the fighting souix and the redskins team names were not a bad reflection of their culture.

[Hazel-Ra]

That just depends on WHAT generals your a revering by making them a mascot now doesnt it.

AND IF THEY REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT THE CAUSE OF THE DEMISE OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN THEY COULD LOOK NO FARTHER THAN

http://www.wyzant.com/Gunpowder_football_tutors.aspx

FOR PUBLIC ENEMY #1.......GUNPOWDER

Actually I was refering to the team the Globetrotters always smack the hell out of =)

[ThePreciating]

I have many relatives who are Native American who despise the name and the team as a whole, because of the name.

Speaking of your relatives, I'm so sick of these redskins invading our neighborhoods with their high crime rates and gambling and drugs. I swear, pretty soon they'll be teaching injun talk to our kids in school.

Blasting their tribal chants out their car windows, smoking their peace pipes all over the place, scalping innocent children. It's just unbelievable.

Sorry - I guess some of that Washington Redskins racism is rubbing off on me. :jerk:

[iMeast]

Out of all the teams with Native American-related names the Redskins have one of the least offensive logos but perhaps the most (possibly) offensive name. The teams with possibly the most offensive logo is the Cleveland Indians.

Anyway I would think it would be an honor. I mean when I think of Native Americans I think of noble warriors. Next thing you know the Irish are going to get pissed off at the Boston Celtics.

HTTR

[HailGreen28]

I forget: Wasn't the name Redskins adopted for the home crowd to root FOR? Not against?

:whoknows:

[corsair_joe]

I'm 1/16th Cherokee (same as Sam Bradford) and the name doesn't bother me.

[mbws]

I don't think it's offensive, and I hope the Redskins do not have to change their name. Having said that, I wonder if we reverted back to the R design on the helmet if it would calm some folks down (just by taking the Indian Chief logo off the helmet).

Something like the below image could help, but just make it burgundy with a gold R:

I would prefer this "R" logo