No. I’m asserting the name is racist. The evidence makes it clear that my assertion is correct. And I also a certain that having a racist names in the year 2014 for a professional football team is morally reprehensible and should be corrected.
I see you’re in Northern Virginia. Are you going to make the admission I asked for from the other fan of the team in question?
That admission is that you feel that the team that you root for should keep the name in spite of the fact that it is racist and it hurts people.
You could google it yourself but here’s the first thing I grabbed. cite. Do you honestly think the team wants anything other than a tough symbol of football warrior testosterone?
The fact that some people want to keep the name in no way says that “the name and image is one of a proud warrior without derogatory connotation” for “most people.” Unless you are trying to argue that nothing with derogatory connotation can be popular.
For a lot of businesses that rely heavily on their reputation and good will, there need not be a majority of the public against them before they are motivated to take action. A significant minority will do.
Look at Procter & Gamble, for example. I doubt that the proportion of the public who thought their old logo was Satanic ever got anywhere near 50 percent, but they still eventually decided they no longer wanted that kind of trouble.
I don’t recall any significant public movement pushing for a change from “Washington Bullets.” They did it preemptively.
And they’re wrong. Read the 177 page ruling, which is mostly a comprehensive list of the evidence that was presented. Read the ruling that states they ruled the way they did because of the overwhelming evidence.
This is not a matter of opinion. The facts are in. The word is racist. Just because some people think it isn’t doesn’t change the evidence that shows that overwhelmingly the term is used as a pejorative to describe Native Americans, or the football teams who took that as their name.
Nice strawman. The fact that people are overwhelmingly ignorant that it is a racist term doesn’t mean they bear ill will to Native Americans. It means they are ignorant.
In fact, considering I posted the 177 page ruling which declared the term is racist and listed the mountains of evidence which caused them to rule that way , I am seeing a lot of willful ignorance in a forum that is supposedly devoted to stamping such nonsense out.
From my point of view, he has more evidence that it is racist than you have for your assertions. Your evidence that it has no derogatory connotation is that last year 79% of people didn’t want to change it. (The number is down to 71% in a more recent poll, by the way. Does that mean it’s becoming more derogatory?)
I see the evidence. You still have yet to address it. And unless you can quote me calling anyone a racist, retract your statement or else I will ask a moderator to deal with you.
But the problem is it IS a matter or opinion, your certainly notwithstanding. And that opinion is in no way universally held by the group that is thought to be offended.
I live in the Washington DC area, where there is some discussion on this topic. And again this week they report on another school, on an Indian Reservation voting to keep the name Redskin as a mascot.
So you may be certain that it’s racist. And others may be certain. But apparently some portion (minor? fair amount? significant?) of American Indians don’t find it racist.
The hard question is what amount is enough to ask the team to change their name?
But … among the mountains of evidence that the patent office considered, did they evaluate the reasons that Red Mesa High School, located on Navaho land, calls their team “Redskins?” That seems an odd choice for such a virulently offensive word.
if the evidence is “clear,” then are the people of Red Mesa, Kingston, and Wellpint mentally deficient? Do they need assistance to continue to live independently?
I think “redskin” is pretty clearly a slur, but it’s not only a slur. Just like with many other slurs, in-group usage can be quite different than out-group usage.
I think it’s a matter of courtesy. Snyder should change the name because it’s extremely discourteous to call the team a word that is interpreted as a slur by so many. I think the NFL should pressure the team for the same reason. I don’t think the government should get involved.
Keep the colors, and even the logo perhaps, and change it to the Warriors.