Note from the author: I would like to request that from this point on we stop using “R-word”. It is offensive. Even when referring to the NFL team, I say, “Washington football team” and until the name is officially changed I hope you will do the same.
This week, the US Patent office cancelled 6 patents for the Washington NFL football team, citing them as disparaging to Native Americans. An official comment from the team’s lawyer stated that they have been here before, which they have – a previous canceling of the patents was overturned in 2003. Despite growing opposition, the team and its owners remain resolute that they won’t change the name. Daniel Snyder, the team’s owner, even started a foundation to support Native American causes. Apparently, he thinks he can resolve the issue by making monetary contributions. What Mr. Snyder and fans of the team need to understand is that throwing money at a racist name doesn’t change the fact that it’s a racist name.
Let’s be clear here – I am not calling the team or its fans racist. I’m saying the name is racist, because it is. Yes, it started out as a descriptor, but over time, the meaning of the word has changed. That’s usually the course words like this take. A neutral word used to describe a particular group starts being used by the majority population in a derogatory way – an indication of “us and them”, “right” and “wrong”, and “good and bad.”
Native Americans are the only living group in existence whose ethnicity is being used as a team name and mascot. We are told it is an honor. Yet, when a Canadian Aboriginal band names their team mascot “The Caucasians,” in protest of Native mascots, they get complaints that it’s racist. (Interesting.) When you consider that other sports mascots are animals, it makes Native American sports names dehumanizing, not an honor.
When we’re told something is offensive, why do we react with such vitriol? Because none of us wants to appear insensitive. We all consider ourselves to be good people. Yet, digging in and maintaining our ground, even when presented with evidence to the contrary, only makes us closed-mined and perpetuates the idea that we might actually be insensitive.
As humans, we are programmed to learn. We can’t be presented with knowledge and not be unchanged. Once we have knowledge, we can’t pretend that we don’t know. We can ignore the information, but we can’t be the same. We either decide to change or dig our heels in.
I believe it is incumbent upon us to use knowledge to better ourselves and our world. I would encourage anyone who so vehemently supports this team name to stop for a moment of self-reflection. Why does it mean so much to you? Is it OK to support a name or moniker that is offensive and deemed racist and disparaging? How might you react if your heritage was being attacked? Can you find the common humanity in this situation and possibly understand why this name is offensive? I’m not saying you have to agree it is offensive, but can you understand why some Native Americans might find it offensive?
This is not a matter of hypersensitivity or political correctness. It’s a matter of finding our common humanity and respecting one another in the way the other wants to be respected – not in a way we demand they be respected.
I hope Chief Wahoo is next.
