So, recently a group of Native Americans complained that a professional football team, by the name of Washington Redskins, is racist. The team's logo is a stereotype caricature of Native Americans, the name is also a racial slur. The historical evidence of this is well-known. And yet, apparently, the team's owners have decided that they feel offended that their offensive name and logo is causing the people they mock to be offended. It's completely
ridiculous, of course.
I really hope the team loses their lawsuit against the Native Americans. Could you imagine every time the team plays a game, is mentioned by anyone, or someone displays the name and logo on a shirt or bumper sticker you see a plainly racist slur against you? Even worse still, so many people treat that racism as if it's normal, acceptable and even something to be celebrated. The fact is Native Americans are a small minority and the majority is telling them to "just get over it!" I wonder if they'd sue black people if they complained about how offensive the name is if the team were calling themselves the Washington Negroes? What if the team were the Washington Hebes, and their logo was an old stereotype caricature of supposedly miserly Jews? Would the team suddenly become racist if it were the Washington Slant Eyes and their logo was stereotype of some Chinese guy with a pointy hat eating rice?
It's obviously racist. You don't have to be a genius to know that tradition is not a valid excuse for continuing the racism. And yet, the common defense employed is "but it's tradition". Slavery, too, was once "tradition", and yet we managed to get rid of that. Some traditions do not deserve to be maintained. One must be either incredibly callous or incredibly dumb, or both, if they don't accept that the team's name and logo are racist. It is an example of privilegism to sue people who find your racist stereotype of them to be offensive. What the Washington team is doing is trying to protect their belief that their branding is more important to their profits than the negative effects it has on an entire ethnic group. The only purpose the continued use of such an archaic and uncivilized racial insult serves is to retain dominance of a majority over another ethnic group. Our society needs to change this attitude, now!
Washington Redskins Sues Native Americans - Sports Illustrated
I really hope the team loses their lawsuit against the Native Americans. Could you imagine every time the team plays a game, is mentioned by anyone, or someone displays the name and logo on a shirt or bumper sticker you see a plainly racist slur against you? Even worse still, so many people treat that racism as if it's normal, acceptable and even something to be celebrated. The fact is Native Americans are a small minority and the majority is telling them to "just get over it!" I wonder if they'd sue black people if they complained about how offensive the name is if the team were calling themselves the Washington Negroes? What if the team were the Washington Hebes, and their logo was an old stereotype caricature of supposedly miserly Jews? Would the team suddenly become racist if it were the Washington Slant Eyes and their logo was stereotype of some Chinese guy with a pointy hat eating rice?
It's obviously racist. You don't have to be a genius to know that tradition is not a valid excuse for continuing the racism. And yet, the common defense employed is "but it's tradition". Slavery, too, was once "tradition", and yet we managed to get rid of that. Some traditions do not deserve to be maintained. One must be either incredibly callous or incredibly dumb, or both, if they don't accept that the team's name and logo are racist. It is an example of privilegism to sue people who find your racist stereotype of them to be offensive. What the Washington team is doing is trying to protect their belief that their branding is more important to their profits than the negative effects it has on an entire ethnic group. The only purpose the continued use of such an archaic and uncivilized racial insult serves is to retain dominance of a majority over another ethnic group. Our society needs to change this attitude, now!
Washington Redskins Sues Native Americans - Sports Illustrated
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