Free Republic

Political correctness is apparently more important than educating children. At least that’s the message I take away from a Colorado Democrat’s plan to defund schools that have “unauthorized” mascots. Wielding the self-righteous tomahawk of political correctness, Democrat Joe Salazar has decided to leverage Colorado’s pawns kids as a bargaining chip in his effort to rid the world of “offensive” Native American mascots.Under the Thornton legislator’s plan, schools will be required to seek permission from Native American tribes for their western-themed mascots, or go without any state funding. (On the bright side, I can now honestly say I’ve seen a Democrat propose...

Charlotte Observer has announced it will no longer be printing the name “Redskins” in local articles, citing controversy surrounding the name. The newspaper announced on Saturday that it will start the ban Sunday. The paper said it will still cover the team, but will not refer to them by that term. ...

NFL culture has finally pissed the American left off. No, feminist Democrats are not irate about superstars beating their girlfriends into unconsciousness and “equality” activists are not protesting the NFL’s lack of gender-neutral locker rooms. Their ire is directed at the team name of the Washington franchise, the Redskins, and the left has its jockstrap all bunched up because owner Daniel Snyder is refusing to cower to their fad activism. See, this whole feigned outrage is not about an offensive team name—it’s about control, it’s about liberal bullies not getting their way, and it is the epitome of fake courage....

The raw numbers look nice for those who favor keeping the name, but pay attention to the trendline. Way back in 1992, just eight percent supported changing it; last year, as the lefty messaging machine got rolling, it bumped up to 14 percent. Through eight months of this year, it’s up another nine points. Where will it be five years from now?Glass half-full or half-empty?Don’t read too much into the numbers among liberals. They’ll become strongly negative soon enough, as opposition to “Redskins” slowly joins the canon of What Good Progressives Believe. The number among the under-45 set is...

Don’t Gimme An “N”: “Redskins” is nothing like the “N-word” by Daniel Clark If you’ve watched any media panel discussions about the Washington Redskins’ nickname, you’ve noticed that the typical, knee-jerk liberal response is, “Calling a team the Redskins is no different from calling it the N-word.” A more honest critic would stop to wonder why that’s never been done. It can’t be that people have been more sensitive about offending blacks than Indians. Back when many sports teams were given their nicknames, nobody would have guessed that a racial slur would one day be censored as “the N-word.” The...

I'm attempting to understand why some of the descendants of the people Christopher Columbus called "Indians" say they are ashamed to be called "redskins". The only explanation I can think of is they are ashamed that they are not white or perhaps they are simply ashamed of their heritage. In the 1950's many black Americans were ashamed of their color. They tried to bleach their skin and straighten their hair to look more like white people. In the early sixties someone discovered a statement abolitionist John Sweat Rock had made a century earlier. Rock said, "black is beautiful". Many black...

On his Friday program, Keith Olbermann called on ESPN to "officially" ban the use of "Redskins." Citing Greg Gumbel, Tom Jackson, Peter King, Phil Simms, Mike Caray, Tony Dungy and others who have expressed concerns about using the team's name, Olbermann said that ESPN is the "conduit of sports" in the country while also being "loathe to be the news." Olbermann said that list of the words he and his colleagues cannot say on the air is "justifiably long" and "way less offensive than the name of the Washington team." He said he personally felt that "it is time for...

THIS PAGE has for many years urged the local football team to change its name. The term “Redskins,” we wrote in 1992, “is really pretty offensive.” The team owner then, Jack Kent Cooke, disagreed, and the owner now, Daniel M. Snyder, disagrees, too. But the matter seems clearer to us now than ever, and while we wait for the National Football League to catch up with thoughtful opinion and common decency, we have decided that, except when it is essential for clarity or effect, we will no longer use the slur ourselves. That’s the standard we apply to all offensive...

More and more we're hearing about various members of the media ceasing to use the name "Redskins." In perhaps the biggest deal yet, the Washington Post announced Friday the editorial board would cease using the team's nickname. "While we wait for the NFL to catch up with public opinion and common decency we have decided not to use the slur ourselves except when it is essential for clarity or effect," said a statement on the paper's own site. Worth noting: this doesn't affect the actual paper. The news-gathering side of the business can -- and will as we understand it...

If you saw a Native American walking across the street, would you yell out, “Hey, Redskin, you dropped your hat’’? I don’t believe you would, no matter how strongly you feel that the Washington Redskins should be able to keep their nickname. And I don’t believe Mike Ditka would, either, even though he has come out strongly on the side of intolerance, whether he realizes it or not. The say-anything coach went off on those of us who want to see the Redskins nickname go the way of medical bloodletting. In an interview with RedskinsHistorian.com — you always save up...

LANDOVER, Md. -- The "Hands up, don't shoot" protest has made its way to the NFL. The Washington Redskins secondary emerged from the stadium tunnel during pregame introductions Monday night with hands raised and palms forward. It was a show of solidarity with the people in Ferguson, Missouri, who are protesting the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Eleven players took part as the team was preparing to face the Cleveland Browns. Safety Ryan Clark said Brown "could have been any one of us. That could have been any one of our brothers, our cousins. ... When you get an opportunity...

Earlier Wednesday Mike Ditka made the news with his brash comments in favor of the Washington Redskins keeping their controversial nickname.. Now it's time to meet his polar opposite, at least as far as this issue is concerned. Mike Carey, a recently hired rules analyst for CBS Sports, spent 19 seasons as an NFL referee but did not officiate a Redskins game for nearly all of the last eight years of his career. That was by request — because he disapproves of their name.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two influential NFL voices - including CBS lead analyst Phil Simms, who will handle Washington's Week 4 game - said Monday they likely won't use the term "Redskins" when discussing the franchise. "My very first thought is it will be Washington the whole game," Simms told The Associated Press on Monday. Simms will work the Thursday night package the network acquired this season and will have Giants-Redskins on Sept. 25. He isn't taking sides in the debate over whether Washington's nickname is offensive or racist. But he says he is sensitive to the complaints about the name,...

Johnny Manziel gives middle finger toward Redskins By Chris WesselingAround the League Writer Johnny Manziel's most effective throw of the night was the middle finger in the direction of the Washington Redskins sideline. The Cleveland Browns' rookie quarterback took an earful from Redskins players when he was forced out of bounds in the third quarter. As Manziel jogged away, he responded by casually flipping the bird with his right hand.

Though the Washington Redskins play for a city on the opposite coast, California lawmakers voted Monday to urge that the National Football League change its name because it is "believed by some to be a racial slur and to promote discrimination against Native Americans."

From nearly 1,000 miles away, several Redskins players used the Monday Night Football stage to draw attention to the situation that has been unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri by running onto FedExField with their hands up in the air.

Phil Simms may have self censored himself from saying the name “Redskins” but fans show no signs of abandoning the name.Link to song:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPVfFzbRuc4&feature=youtu.be

A palate cleanser via Time, which notes that the “Redskins Facts” site is behind this and that the team itself is apparently behind “Redskins Facts.” (The anti-Redskins ad that inspired this rebuttal is also embedded below for context.) This is really just a taste of what they’ve got cooking; go to their YouTube account and you’ll find interviews with individual Native Americans defending the name. It’s an understandable counterattack — if your critics claim you’re victimizing a group, the natural response is to find members of the group who don’t feel victimized — but realistically we’re past the point...

San Fransico-based T-shirt company Headline Shirts has taken full advantage of the Redskins name controversy by introducing a new line of shirts based on the team logo. But instead of a Native American, a redneck, complete with raccoon tail and mullet -- is prominently featured. (No idea if this violates trademark law, but if it does, and a judge does not overturn the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's ruling canceling the Redskins' trademark registration, there's nothing the team would be able to do about it.)

You know, being a fan of the Minnesota Vikings is difficult enough just based on what happens on the field. We’re 0-4 in Super Bowls. We’ve got to deal with the stomach-curdling memories of the 1999 NFC Championship Game, not to mention 41-doughnut in the same game two years later, and the bounty-hunting Saints putting out a contract on Brett Favre in 2010. But on a cultural level . . . hey, what the heck did we do? We were just sitting here minding our own business. First we got stuck with a petulant, attention-mongering punter who couldn’t and can’t...