Posted on 06/26/2014 7:46:23 PM PDT by kathsua
The white hypocrites who complain about the term "redskins" use the term "native American" which when used in the way they are using it isn't much better than the other n-word. The word "redskins" is a physically descriptive term that doesn't have inherently negative characteristics. The word is one of the English translations of the Ottawa term "Oklahoma". If we consider the characteristics of the people the term "redskins" was first applied to, it's a positive term.
The word "native" has two different uses. In general use the term "native " followed by a geographic region is used to indicate people who live in the area in which they are born. For example, a native New Yorker is someone who was born in New York and still lives there. In this context what counts is where the individual was born, not when his or her ancestors arrived from somewhere else. Those of us who were born in the United States are all native Americans even if we didn't have ancestors who called themselves Cherokee, Cheyenne or Lakota. Except for the eleven months I spent in Vietnam I've lived all my life in the United States so I would be a native American even if I hadn't had an ancestor who moved to the frontier shortly after the American Revolution and married a woman who was probably Shawnee or Kickapoo. Residents of Mexico and the other countries on the land mass called "America" are also natives of America.
The context in which whites have used the term "native" when referring to non-whites is highly negative. In movies made during the period European nations had colonies in Asia and Africa, when whites used the word "native" to refer to non-whites the implication was that the "natives" were inferior and possibly primitive, uncivilized or even "savages". The best example of this practice is the old jungle movie cliche "the natives are restless tonight" which was used when the natives were beating on drums and making other sounds. The white characters never considered the possibility that the "natives" just wanted to listen to drum music. If the natives were making noises they must have been "restless " about something. "Native" is used as a generic term for local residents whose identity isn't considered important.
Whites have often used the word "savage" to describe non-whites who use violence even though whites at times have used the same type of violence. The most recent example of white savagery is the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.
Those who criticize the term "redskin" ignore the characteristics of the people it referred to when it was used centuries ago. The original "redskins" lived on their own lands and provided for their own needs. They often lived alongside whites and sold land to them. They had their own medical knowledge, but much of it was lost because whites were too stupid to recognize its value. They had their own culture including music and the visual arts although they lacked an inexpensive permanent medium to record their literature. The Hopi even had an extended creation account which included mass extinction events involving fire and cold as well as a flood like Noah's. In recent years scholars who study earth's history have supported theories about mass extinctions caused by cold and fire.
The redskins sometimes lived at peace with each other and the white skins and at other times fought them. The white nations sometimes lived at peace with each other and sometimes fought each other. The white skins sometimes paid redskins to kill other white skins or paid for the scalps of redskins. Redskins were warriors who fought to protect their way of life. Captain French to Major Reno: "Too many blasted redskins with new Winchesters" defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
The redskins were not defeated. They were inundated by a flood of Europeans.
Referring to the original inhabitants as "redskins" is consistent with calling Europeans "whites". There is nothing inherently wrong with the color red. It is the color used in both the British and American flags. The British army during and after the colonial period wore red. Roman Catholic Cardinals wear red. In the Bible the words of Jesus Christ are sometimes printed in red. Various sports teams include the color red in their names: such as Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, University of Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Tech University Red Raiders.
The redskins term doesn't have any inherently negative characteristics. Any negatives are based on the stereotyped view of the people it refers to.
"Redskins" is a much stronger name than "native American". Try sounding tough while saying "I'm a native American" Now try it saying "I'm a redskin". Redskins resisted being imprisoned on reservations. Native Americans live on them.
I don't know if my limited North American ancestry is enough for anyone to claim me, but I would rather be called a "redskin" than a "native American"[except in the context in which everyone born in the U.S. is a native American.]
Many Republicans are trying to have President Ronald Reagan's face placed on the $50 bill to replace President Ulysses S. Grant. A better choice would be to have Reagan replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Jackson's mistreatment of the Cherokee should disqualify him from having his face on money.
Aborigine.
If “redskin” is offensive, then why isn’t “black”?
I am a Native American, because I was born here. I am also an African American, because my ancestors came from Africa. (After being waylaid in Europe for a few tens of thousands of years, perhaps, but they still came from Africa.) I am also European-American, because I can trace ancestry from there, and I am also American-American, because my parents were both US citizens by birth. In fact, I am simply “American,” but, those who seek to claim Hyphenated-American status are merely attempting to divide and conquer the melting pot which this place was supposed to be.
Then why isn’t “white”?
“Chief” will do.
I think the term First Nations is used in Canada.
I was born in in the USA in 1962, so I’m a Native American. My ancestors came from England to the colonies in the 1600s. I like a bit of British culture (music etc) but I’m an American. Also I am a person of color. In fact my late mother and the President’s late mother are of the same race: white. (Or is that the absence of color? White is a color—when you’re buying paint, for example.)
I am kind of pinkish-beige. That’s a color. Also if the word colored is offensive why do we still have the Natl Assoc for the Adv of Colored People? People of Color is apparently OK, so it should be the NAAPOC. And I should be able to join.
Again, I am a person of color. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA had actually claimed to be an Indian and has been described as a person of color:
>>But a 1997 Fordham Law Review piece described her as Harvard Law School’s “first woman of color,”... In my three years at Stanford Law School, there were no professors who were women of color. Harvard Law School hired its first woman of color, Elizabeth Warren, in 1995.”...Asked to comment, Warren spokesman Alethea Harney said, “There is nothing new in this report. Elizabeth has been clear that _she is proud of her Native American heritage_ and everyone who hired Elizabeth has been clear that she was hired because she was a great teacher, not because of that heritage...”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/05/fordham-piece-called-warren-harvard-laws-first-woman-123526.html
Is Paleface still okay??
.
Canada settled on “First Nations.” That’ll work...”The Washington First Nationals.” Complements the baseball team, but is uniquely different and, at the same time, pays homage to them pesky redskins.
Your reasoning is naive in the utmost: the emotional valence, social nuance and political charge of any given word is completely and exclusively determined in every instance by what the Left says it is.
End of discussion.
The writer isn’t very credible himself, he sounds as annoying as the people he is trying to criticize.
I think paleface has been replaced by cracker. I think. I can’t keep up.
Will Harry Reid Tell This 100% Navajo Indian High School Their ‘Redskins’ Mascot is Racist?
http://www.tpnn.com/2014/06/19/will-harry-reid-tell-this-100-navajo-indian-high-school-their-redskins-mascot-is-racist/
it’s incorrect to call them native americans. we have proof europeans were here far earlier than indians. WE are the real native americans here.
You’re assuming that First Peoples are actually descendants of the first people and not of people who came later and slaughtered the first inhabitants.
I know what you mean. I was born and raised in Texas, so I am a Native Texan. I am denied by many the opportunity to call myself a Native American even though I was born and raised in the USA.
I use the term “Native American” to distinguish the people who immigrated to the Americas several thousand years ago from the people who live on the Indian subcontinent.
I really wish there were a better term to use.
No. The Redskins should not change their name at all.
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