by John Hawkins:
There was a time when you could afford to ignore insane ideas in America, but these days you can barely manage to blurt out, “Nobody can be that stupid,” before some liberal starts calling for them to be made into laws on MSNBC. So it is with the demands that the Redskins change their name, but this time 50 Democrat senators and bureaucrats at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are tagging along with the Left-Wing loon patrol. That really shouldn’t surprise anyone because it has become the standard modus operandi for liberals. Pick a group of people (In this case, Indians), choose some trivial wedge issue that does nothing of significance to improve their lives, and declare that’s the only issue that matters to them and that anyone who doesn’t agree, hates them. It’s division, it’s hatred, it’s destruction, and it’s what liberals are all about. While it’s impossible to critique every dumb liberal idea in any one article, it’s not hard to explain why pushing the Redskins to change their name is foolish.
1) The word “Redskin” isn’t a racial slur: “Redskin” began as a descriptive term just like “black” or “white.” No one uses the word “Redskin” as a racial slur for Indians — and there’s debate over whether anyone EVER did. On the other hand, if someone drops the “N-bomb,” Jessie Jackson talks about “Hymietown,” or Chris Rock talks about “crackers,” those are recognized as racial slurs. So in essence, what liberals are trying to do is create a racial slur out of thin air. Maybe conservatives should try that some time. “(Gasp) You said Joe Biden? Why do you hate white people so much?”
2) Redskin apparently isn’t offensive to most Native Americans: In modern America, you can find people who are offended by just about anything. So, it’s no surprise that there are some Indians who don’t like the term Redskin. However, in 2004 a National Annenberg Election Survey found that 90% of Native Americans had no problem with the name. Furthermore, there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that shows Native Americans don’t find the word “Redskins” offensive. In Anadarko, Oklahoma, which is often billed as the “Indian Capital of the Nation” where seven tribes make their home, there has been a Redskin Theatre there for 60 years. Red Mesa High School, which is located on a Navajo reservation in Arizona has a Redskin mascot and logo. Is the idea here supposed to be that these Indians are too stupid to know that they’re being insulted? Read the full article
