Will88 wrote: “Hope you don’t mind this question. If the Indians of the US are actually offended by the mascot name “Redskins”, I think it should be changed. But if this is just a bunch of PC whiners and rabble rousers and attention seeking activists, then they should be told to STFU, etc. I think it should be voted on by the tribes.
Do you think that name is offensive to a significant number of Indians in the US?”
Will88, of all the names, Redskins probably started off as the most pejorative. However, over time, even that has lost its sting. Especially the manner in which the Redskins of the NFL use the term, the accompanying logo, and paraphernalia, the term Redskin is not offensive to me at all. It may be to a small number of folks who still suffer discrimination on and around some reservations.
However, it is the libs in the ivory towers of academia that are the biggest bellyachers. They need to shut up. My grandmother who went to a boarding school for Indian girls pulled for every sports team that had an Indian mascot. I remember her saying that it brought pride to us. She said the alternative was “out of sight; out of mind.” I agree 100%.
Oldplayer
One aside: she never could understand the bucktoothed Cleveland Indians mascot logo. She said that it didn’t even look like an Indian: “It looks like a Jap.” Just goes to show . . . something about us all, I guess.
***Redskins probably started off as the most pejorative.***
That is because the Indians loved to paint their bodies for war and the most popular paint was RED. Apache Mangas Coloradas got his name (Red Sleeve) from a red shirt he wore. When the shirt deteriorated, he painted his arms red.
Any wonder why the Druids and Scots were called BLUE MEN?