This football season, let's wipe 'Redskins' from our vocabulary | MSNBC: Today, Americans will huddle around TV screens, don team colors and exchange competitive banter as we inaugurate a new season of one of the nation’s most beloved pastimes: football. Yet today, we are also reminded of another American legacy, with a far less positive connotation. As Washington’s football team takes the field, the escalating debate over the offense of the team’s name is once again pushed onto the national stage.
Native American advocates have been explicit in their insistence that the name “Redskins” is offensive. By definition, it is a pejorative. Defenders of the name have contested that it is a badge of pride, ignoring the community voices that object. Whether or not the name is intended to offend, it does. The usages of the name and logo transcend cultural appropriation to the ranks of explicit racial disrespect.
