In a small forum I read, the conversation about the name “Redskins” arose again.

What’s in a name? Pride?

I find it strange how attached people are to names. As if there’s really any meaning in them. If you’re offended by it, just say so, so people will either opt to appear offensive or change.

I try neither to be ashamed, nor proud of my ancestry/lineage/race/religion. Isn’t pride a sin? Supposedly they’re over-represented in fields of accomplishment. What does that have to do with me?

How many find it offensive?

One listed some stats (this, this and this. Just FYI– I didn’t look at them…) Apparently they attest that about 90% or more of native Americans are not offended by the term “redskins”. Does that mean the term offends 10%? This wikipedia page says about 1.7% of Americans identify as Native Americans, about 5.2 million people. Are we okay with offending 520,000 of them?

One person said that in some predominantly Native American high schools, students “wear the name with pride”? Is that pride in the school, pride in their community, pride in their tribe, pride in being Native American?

Sports are primitive

Let’s face it, sports are primitive. They’re great in many ways, but they’re all about distraction, entertainment, and exercising our emotions, including our violent sides.Often they’re experientially rich- letting us explore lots of emotions connected to our physical sides. They create a drama for us to get wrapped up in. They’re even more shallow than TV, though, which at least gives us new looks at life. They’re fun for many. We should keep them.

Sports are primitive. And their team names are arbitrary, and appropriately primitive. Perhaps we should give them special license for primitive names.

Maybe we should vote on it

My personal opinion is that we should get rid of the name “Redskins” as it perpetuates stereotypes and the significance of race. But I don’t feel strongly about it. It only becomes important when enough people feel it’s important. Maybe native American descendants aren’t there yet. Or maybe they have moved past it, so caring about the name is beneath them.

How about we vote on this every 2 years? Maybe that would get more people out to the polls. And it would provide a tiny bit of accountability, so we can take responsibility for this part of our culture.

And play with it

It’d be great if there were a team called the Christians. And they played the Lions… Maybe we should move the names Democrats and Republicans to teams, too…