+Margie Kleerup and I watched this Daily Show segment last night (http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/189afv/the-redskins–name—catching-racism), and it's very interesting reading some "behind the scenes" notes from one of the Native Americans involved in the show.
The use of Native Americans as team mascots is — a contentious issue as best. Part of it depends, I think, on the term used — "redskins" is generally accepted as a disparaging term. It may partly also depend on how that that connection is portrayed, or how the team reaches out to the Native American community.
For example, my daughter's high school team name is the Arapahoe High School Warriors (we're located in Araphahoe Co., Colorado). From the founding of the school, an Arapaho Indian was used as the symbol / mascot. Early on, this was a caricature, but in the early 90s the school reached out to the actual Arapaho nation to agree upon how the connection to the tribe could be made in a positive way (http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/Default.aspx?tabid=5955). The mascot symbol was redesigned, terminology was revised, and the school got the endorsement of the tribe. Which is kind of cool.
It seems to me that what's going on with the Washington NFL team is a combination of a generally-deemed-offensive term, a lack of serious connection between the team itself and the Native American community as a whole. Moreover, the identity of the "Redskins" has been, in a sense, appropriated — an identity that is offensive to some sizeable segment of the Native American community is seen as a self-labeled title of pride by a bunch of folks who — well, aren't Native Americans. Thus the push to change the name isn't seem just as a debate over social justice or historical meaning, but over a name that people thinks refers to them, through their team. Thus, any attack on the name becomes an attack on their own identity, leading to … well, untoward behavior, especially when alcohol gets thrown into the mix.
“I’ll fucking cut you.” Behind the scenes of the 1491s’ segment on “The Daily Show”
Photo courtesy of Migizi Pensoneau The 1491s with Jason Jones of “The Daily Show.” Editor’s note: Last night “The Daily Show” aired a controversial segment…
