I stumbled across an espn.com headline this morning about American Indians wanting the Supreme Court to look at the Washington Redskins name as offensive. American Indians have been on a war path, no pun intended, the last ten years or so to get sports teams and universities to change their nicknames. I know a few smaller schools have changed their names, but the larger universities and professional sports teams refuse. Think about it, what would Washington be without the Redskins? Florida State without the Seminoles? For some reason Florida State Lions or Florida State Manatees just does not work.
I feel for Indians, and I can see how some of these names could be offensive, but I honestly don’t think that there is any disrespect being displayed with these names. The truth is everyone could find offense with every team’s nickname. Off the top of my head, I could see how Asian especially Chinese people could find offense with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers get their name from the 1849 gold rush that took place in California. The Chinese people were hated by gold miners and often treated poorly. San Francisco has a large Asian population and I am surprised no one has said anything about it yet.
It seems that our country has become one that loves to attack each other if we feel like we are not treated equally. EHarmony, and online Christian dating site, was sued last year by a gay man because eHarmony didn’t offer same sex dating. There are gay online dating websites, why is it necessary to attack one that isn’t. That would be like suing Chick-fil-a for not serving hamburgers. You know what you are getting when you go to that restaurant. You know what you are getting when you go to a Christian dating website!
So is it really necessary for American Indians to be suing over these team’s names? People are now suing just to sue. It gets so annoying and I am tired of hearing about it. Washington has always and should always be the Redskins, even if I don’t like them it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make sense for them to be anything different. People need to grow up and do something with their lives so they don’t have to rely on suing people to fill the emptiness in their lives.
More than Sport, It is Life.
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Great points. I think the case could even be made that these names keep Indians in the spotlight. It pays respects to the heritage of the Indians or I guess Native Americans is the politically correct term. For instance I am sure people at Florida State have a better grasp on Native American history because their mascot is a Seminole. I know I know more about Bears.
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