So this is what California has been up to for months now, and while the cause itself is brilliantly devised, the outcome is rather vague. The sports teams’ that make use of the name “Redskins” will soon be deprived of the right to embracing a name they hold close to their hearts, and the Native American community seems to be taking quite a hit.
Call it the typical American logic, if you will, but the plethora of social and civil rights activists seems to be running out of real and tangible issues that need attention in the United States, so they would rather turn their attention to a name that wasn’t a problem for anyone until they brought it up. We are not implying in any way that the name is not offensive, we agree it may be, but we also have to admit that the white population are the sole architects of these offensive barrier between races that have now established themselves as norms or vital components of our lives. If you look at the big picture, it all seems like we are trying top make it up to a community by telling them “Hey, this is a barrier to understanding and equality that you’re wearing on your shirt and it’s insulting you. Yeah, our forefather’s totally made it, but now that you’ve embraced the insult with open arms, we’re going to take it away! ‘Just a Head’s up!’”
So we are supposed to swear off ever writing the words “Washington Redskins” (Oops, I did it didn’t I.) because it’s racist and offensive, but how do you go to a Black man and tell him that he will never be allowed to wear the name Redskins with honor again, because that’s exactly what they thinks the label brings. The whole issue seems like a staged performance, where the people themselves do not conform with the dictated changes that they need to keep improvising with, because us Americans, yeah we do as we please. The name itself is not the problem, the thinking that provoked us to devise the offensive name as a standard is.
In many schools where the Native American student body touches a percentage of above 90%, the dictated change is not being received well. They wear the name with honor and pride, and do not posses even the slightest idea of the fact that the name is insulting them.
We know what you’re thinking, Boy, you try to help people and…
You cannot go up to anybody and claim that the names that they have proudly worn on their uniforms have been a big joke on them this whole time, and then expect them to trust the idea even remotely. Why? Because it highlights a lot questions.
If the offense and racism is what we are so concerned with, why was the name even ever devised? Why is the change being approached so aggressively today, when millions of people have started to associate themselves with it already? And why is it okay for you to tell us what we should call ourselves and what not?
One would think we have the answers, but we are just as clueless as the kids who keep asking their dads whether their favorite sports name will be take away from them. What do they know; they couldn’t even understand the insult, right? WRONG. You can’t be stupid enough to believe that a mere name is worth more screen time and glorification that all the rest of the problems prevailing in America. A white police officer shot his ex-wife in front of his 6 year old daughter some time ago by the way, seemingly over disputes of child support, but yeah that name thing? Dude you’re totally White, um, right.
It looks like the white privileges have enabled us with some strings to play with of our own, and one revelation after another; we have been dictating the lives of so many people that it isn’t even funny (Hence, the serious and grumpy tone). The civil rights activists and the Californian law will probably pass the change on very soon, but before they do take away one more right o the Native American population, we are going to play our Shakespeare card to try to appeal to both the parties. No name can ever be as offensive as our biased behaviors towards the Native American community.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet” – William Shakespeare
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