I think the problem is, they find the term “Indians” insulting. Look at it this way, what if you said you wanted to name your team after the Italians. They’re strong, and tough, and you respect them.
So you name your team the Indiana Wops.
As for the OP, what’s an insulting name for Englishmen? Instead of thinking “Indiana Englishmen” think “Indiana Limeys” or “Indiana Imperialist Pigs.”
I was surprised when people started protesting the use of the word Indian. I used it all my life, and never meant it to be insulting. But I have to consider, they didn’t create that name, and they don’t use that name themselves.
Of course the term is somewhat innacurate. But it’s stuck because people want a word for all those people who were already living in the New World when them white folks arrived (although notice that the “Eskimos” are for some reason separated out), and Native Americans is both long and cofusing (I was born here, and so am also a native American).
I always thought the term “Indian” arose because Columbus thought he had crossed the Atlantic and ended up in India, or somesuch …
It’s just occurred to me that the word “Indian” could be a compression of Indigenous American. Is this some great new idea which would render the term “Indian” PC, or am I waaaaaay behind …?
To clarify, yes we would most probably use whinge where an American would use whine. Whereas a British person certainly could use whine to mean the same thing, whine is more a reference to the a pitch of noise.
Why don’t you ask if there are any Greeks or Turks (?) how they feel about schools using Spartans and Trojans?
I heard about an intermural basketball team who were Native American and they called themselves The Fightin’ Whites or something like that. Everybody I knew who heard about it thought that it was great. We all loved it and wanted to get T-shirts.
I thought that myself, but I looked into it, and I don’t think it’s gonna fly. Columbus used the word “indio” in his journals, which clearly means to refer to someone from India. There is a Spanish word for “indigenous”, but that’s not it. Nice try though.
I think it’s also kind of funny that the word “India” itself is Western in origin. It may not be strictly correct to call Native Americans “Indians”, but it’s hardly less incorrect to call people from the subcontinent “Indians” either. They’re Hindus, one of the fourteen major languages they speak is Hindi, and the country they live in is Bharat. India Schmindia, says I.
Yeah, and while we’re at it, we’ll get rid of “Germany”, “Japan”, “Spain”, and every country that names itself in a Cyrillic, Arabic, or anything but the English alphabet.
I’m not suggesting we get rid of the words, Cardinal. I’m just pointing out that, while “American Indian” isn’t the most accurate term we could use to designate this group of people, it’s not especially inaccurate compared to how we name other people. If it weren’t for the political realities surrounding the Native American plight, I’m almost certain there would be no resentment of the fact that the English word for native inhabitants of the Americas is the inaccurate “Indian”. Just an observation.
This issue gets revisited from time to time on these boards. If I knew how, I’d offer some links.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a die hard, Chief Wahoo wearing Cleveland Indians fan. To restate what I’ve said on other threads:
Data published in Sports Illustrated magazine March 4, 2002 issue at pages 64-72 in an article by S.L. Price entitled “The Indian Wars”, with a sidebar story on page 69 by Andrea Woo entitled “Polls Apart”, shows that sports team Indian/logo protesters lack support from the great majority of Native Americans. The poll, conducted by the Peter Harris Research Group, showed that 75% of Indians said that team names and mascots such as “Indians,” “Redskins” and “Braves” didn’t discriminate against them; that only 23% of Native Americans were actually offended by such team nicknames; and that 83% of the Indians approved the continued use of those nicknames. Authors Price and Woo admitted that the results “surprised” them and said, “There is a near total disconnect between Indian activists and the Native American population on this issue”, which is a polite way of saying that the self-appointed activists have few followers among the rank and file Indians even though the activists have been pushing this issue for a number of years now.
One point to remember on these discussions is that there is no unanimity of opinion among any of the groups that are “affected.”
In Cleveland, the old baseball team was named the Spiders, Blues, Broncos, then the Naps. After some financial troubles, they reoganized and went looking for a new name. They chose Indians, purportedly in honor of an earlier popular player who happened to be a member of the Penobscot nation. (Whenever this becomes an issue in Cleveland, some reporter goes up to Maine, sticks a microphone in front of someone identified as Penobscot, and comes back with the claim that they (or, at least, that person) think it’s fine to honor Louis Sockalexis by naming the team Indians.)
I suspect that the Atlanta/Milwaukee/Boston Braves are a bit more problematic, with some people objecting to the stereotyping of Indians as only warriors (which, of course, does not seem to bother the folks in heavily Scandinavian-settled Minnesota, despite periodic efforts of scholars to rehabilitate the image of Vikings).
My personal view is that the Washington Redskins name is clearly pejorative.
In terms of the mascots, while I cannot get upset about the name “Indians,” the image of Chief Wahoo is clearly offensive to a lot more people than just Indians. Interestingly, the image has undergone several variations, with one of them being even more offensie than the current one, but one of them actually expressing humanity and nobility. (That one did not last long.)
Just wanted to point out the existance of the Boston Celtics, which at least is a neutral name, and themascot, which is IMO not a neutral thing.
Of course, just because he’s leaning on his shillelagh doesn’t necessarily mean he’s drunk. And there has been some controversy about old Pat. But he’s still there.
Now, I (daughter of a McKenna, God bless 'er) think I see someone after me Lucky Charms. Faith and Begorrah!
