Quote:Sorry to respond so late, and this quote is my answer for Sammy's perfectly reasonable question about what is offensive about skin color.

 

When you nickname someone, it is often a subtle form of bullying.  When you call someone a "Redskin" - which no one does, these days - you put someone is an group.  You stereotype him.  You place him in a box, a file, a culture which may be real or fantasy.  I am not Native American, but I know what it is like to check a box on a job application, and be rejected because of it.  And yes, it was illegal, but that didn't stop it from happening. 

 

So please excuse me if I understand why a Native American, part of a culture that has been misunderstood and mistreated for hundreds of years, might take exception to being placed in a box.  No, you're not doing it.  But someone did, long ago, and your second favorite team's name is a vestige of a method of dehumanizing a people.  And maybe that's way off base, and not the intent of the folks that came up with the nickname, but that's the way it is perceived now.

 

When this topic originally came up, RJ had the best point:  Find one of your Native American friends, call him a Redskin, and see where that gets you.  I also related the topic to the Confederate flag, which was once kinda cool.  Now, not so much.  I bought the "Heritage, not hate" argument, but a lot of other people didn't, so I respect that. 

 

My own skin could be described as "ruddy".  Which is to say, reddish brown. 

 

I'd hate to be called a redskin.

 

 

I would never call anyone a Redskin, unless it was a Redskins fan. Why do people think that is what is happening? It's the old fall back to the debate ... "Oh yeah, call someone a Redskin", like it happens everyday of their life. It doesn't, it's nothing more than making the name fit an offensive nature. Where is this hidden backwards society that uses that term? If they are real, we need to work with them to fix the issues they have, and those issues go way deeper than the name Redskins.

 

My 2nd team is not the Redskins, it is the Jaguars. Redskins were my past, and would not crack my top 15.

 

It would be interesting to hear what box you checked. Depending on timeframe, it could have been illegal (and should be prosecuted). There is no box to check for race in any form, or fashion on job applications in the U.S. today. We take race discrimination very seriously, and I am a little proud of that fact on the ends that I can control. If you do know of a Job application that has discriminatory boxes, please turn this into the authorities, or send it to me ... I will.

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