Everyone sing! "Hail to the Redhawks. Hail victory. Birds on the warpath, dah, de, dah, de, de."
With the great Cowboys win two weeks behind us now and the quarterback controversy following the Minnesota debacle, talk about changing Washington's beloved team nickname has been put on the back burner, if you will. The Skins had a bus wreck in Minnesota (literally and figuratively), a quarterback wreck, a defensive wreck, and came limping back home with six losses under their collective belt. The most striking thing that happened in Minnesota, however, wasn’t on the field or in a wrecked bus. It was in the bleachers and out in the Viking's parking lot, where Native American protesters angrily challenged Washington fans, both children and adults, chastised and berated them, chanting, “We’re not your mascot!” So there you have it: Actual, living proof that there are people who deeply resent Washington’s team name and find it insulting to their culture. But is there anyone who thinks The Daniel will be moved to respond as he should? Not a chance. The good people of Washington, D.C., however, should pressure him to do so, and there are at least a couple of good reasons why.
First: One of the primary arguments made by proponents of keeping the Redskins name is that there are tribes on reservations out west who use that very nickname themselves, thereby proving that they don't find it offensive and it is okay for Washington to do the same. To understand how specious is this reasoning, just try to imagine a white guy walking into a locker room full of African Americans and saying, “Hey, hey my (N word)s! What’s happenin’?” Bad, bad, baad idea, right? Somebody just stepped over a line. Now imagine one of those African Americans walking into that same locker room and asking the very same question. Nothing whatsoever would be thought of it. How this applies to the Redskins name should be common sense, but evidently it isn't. Four hundred years of injustice dictates that there are a different set of rules civilized people need to follow if they want to show the respect required for varied groups to live in harmony. Native Americans can call themselves whatever they want, Mr. Dan, but you cannot.
A second argument favoring the racist moniker asserts that it’s only a bunch of liberal rabble rousers who are stirring things up on the off chance that the name might be found offensive. This sort of thinking: "well it might not be offensive, and I don't have an actual Native American standing here telling me it is, so what the heck, we're probably okay to keep it, right?" That indicates a reckless thought process which reminds me of the arguments espoused by those cretins who ironically call themselves "conservative", when in fact they are dangerously rash and liberal: They chant things like “drill baby drill” and deny that humans might just be warming their environment to levels that are causing draught in the southwest and flooding in New York City. The fact is, a true conservative would be prudent and ere on the side of caution. Given the reasonable chance that we might just be creating for ourselves a real problem, they would urge that we take steps to remedy the situation. Yes. That's what a true conservative would do. Just read your history of Teddy Roosevelt and do what he did. That very same attitude can be applied to the careless, reckless people who want to continue with the Redskins name. But they are, as is said, on the wrong side of history: On the chance that some Native Americans might feel disparaged by the name, might be embarrassed for their impoverished children, why not change the name to the Redhawks? Think about it. Is a name really so important? The colors and the bulk of the victory song lyrics and even the emblem need very little change or none at all. And I’m pretty sure the birds won’t mind. So come on, people in Washington. Raise some cane with your little Napoleon at the top. And hail to the Redhawks! Hail victory!
Haldon Richardson is a teacher and a writer at beyondthelineshaldonrichardson.sportsblog.com. Please like him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/... on Google + at: https://plus.google.com/... and on twitter at: https://twitter.com/...