The following is commentary intended for discussion. Add your comments.
For many years, when polled, the vast majority of Americans, including most Native Americans or Indians, said they did not find sports team names such as “Redskins,” “Braves,” or “Indians,” to be offensive.
Yet there have been activists who have worked very hard to controversialize such names.
Former President Trump recently stated that it’s an honor to have a sports team named after a group. Obviously, the current management of the Cleveland Indians disagreed. Same with the Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves, and others who are changing or have changed their longstanding names.
Do you think activists ginned up a controversy, where none really existed, in order to divide Americans?
Is it an insult or an honor to have a sports team named after a group?
Does “Buccaneers” insult pirates? Does “Cowboys” smear cowboys? “Eskimos”? “Giants”?
“Yankee” is an Indian term– is that offensive?
Is it insulting to wildlife to have teams named after “Eagles,” “Jaguars,” “Ravens,” and “Panthers”? Or are the team names an honor; recognition that the named groups are noble, strong and winners to be cheered on?
Are team names only honors when they are named after anybody except American Indians, when they somehow transform into an insult?
If it’s not insulting to wildlife or other groups to name a team after them, why does it equate to an insult to Indians? Wasn’t “Braves” the accepted term for Indian warriors?
If the mascot or imagery is considered offensive, why not modify it, but keep the honor on the group?
If the term itself is considered insulting, why not change the term but keep the idea and the “honor” on the group? Would an Indian word be better… such as the Mesquites, Moccasins, Condors, Aztecs, or Chinooks? Or is anything Indian somehow an insult when it’s honored in sports?
If the name “Indians” is so offensive, then why is Cleveland finishing out this season before officially changing it?
Native American culture is all but gone from current American culture. Does erasing it from one of the last places it was ever-present in a positive way– American sports– serve the right goal?
What do you think? Leave your comments.
