The Redskins Aren't the Only Problem

The Redskins Aren’t the Only Problem

The term “redskin” dates to about 1700, and was probably first used by French fur traders to describe native American tribes such as the Algonquins and Delawares, who painted their bodies with a compound derived from the mineral hematite, or red ochre. “Redskin” referred not to the American Indian’s skin pigment, which was brown or tawny, but to their use of decorative bright red face and body paint. It was not originally a pejorative term. But by the years 1850-1890, when the United States government conducted a massive campaign of genocide against Native American peoples for their land, the term “redskin” had evolved, contemporaneous to the near-extermination of their culture and false demonization of the race as  bloodthirsty  “savages. ” Over the years it became, as claimed in a 2005 lawsuit, “a derogatory, denigrating, offensive, scandalous, contemptuous, disreputable, disparaging and racist designation for a Native American person.”

 In 1932, the team that became the Redskins was founded as the Boston Braves, changed the next year to “Redskins,”  and relocated to Washington D.C. in 1937. The  first Redskins team included four players and a head coach who were Native Americans. Today, the Redskins NFL team says “The name was never a label. It was and continues to be a badge of honor. It is a symbol of everything we stand for: strength, courage, pride, and respect -- the same values we know guide Native Americans and which are embedded throughout their rich history as the original Americans.” That’s quite a public relations spin, but the point is that it isn’t the authentic meaning of the word “redskin” that matters today, but the change in definition and reputation it’s acquired in the 400 or so years since first coined. Today, some say the word “Redskin” is “racist,” one of the really ugly words in the English language.  There are sensitive people in America who yell “racist” at the slightest provocation, and our society scrambles to appease them, cowering in fear that some intolerant somebody somewhere has spewed the epithet in their direction.   And so, “Redskin” has become the new “n-word” (from the Spanish nègre, meaning black.) Before it’s all over with, you can bet that Dan Snyder in Washington will buckle under and bow to the relentless gods of twenty-first century political correctness, history and motivation be damned. You  may already be thinking of a more appropriate name for the Washington D.C. team.

But “Redskins,” with at least a defensible origin, is hardly the worst of the names we call our sports heroes in America. Many of the NFL’s team names and icons glorify brutality, thievery, and murder.  Take the Vikings from Minnesota, for instance. The team, founded in 1961, says that the name Vikings was selected because “so many people in Minnesota and the surrounding area traced their heritage to Scandinavia.” Of course, that’s not the entire truth – if it were, we’d be rooting for the Minnesota Ice Fishers. The real reason is that the word “Viking” conjures up the image of the fierce, conquering seafarer with a long, full beard and flowing golden hair underneath his horned helmet, the exact image the team uses. But as with other iconic sports-team names, the mythology doesn’t tell the complete story. There’s no evidence that the Vikings ever wore horned helmets in battle, for one thing, although the team’s helmets bear a stylized horn.  That mistake springs from an early misattribution of Bronze Age images. The fact is, believe it or not, the horned-helmeted Viking as we know him today is can be directly traced to the 1876 production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in Bayreuth, Germany. The mythological Viking of opera is the basis for how we perceive the Viking today.  But in truth they  were a savage, warring people who raided and pillaged Europe, Asia, and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries. A romanticized picture of Vikings as “noble”  began to take root in the 18th century, became widely propagated during 19th-century. But the evidence is abundant that Vikings were brutal, war-mongering thieves and usurpers of land. “Vikings” is a highly offensive, racist sobriquet to people who are so stereotyped simply because their ancestors came from Scandinavia. Yet the football fans of Minnesota, some of whom may not be of Scandinavian origin, are required to cheer for the seafaring marauders every Sunday.     

Likewise the Oakland Raiders, whose team emblem is a pirate wearing a football helmet. A raider is “a person who attacks an enemy in the enemy's territory; a marauder; a person who enters a place in order to steal or take something.”  Why would any parent who wants a child to learn the difference between right and wrong encourage his child to cheer for criminals?  Why shouldn’t Oakland be forced to rename its team after the good guys – maybe the “Knights” or “Cavaliers?”  Wouldn’t that be setting a much more appropriate example for our children?  (Originally, they were the Oakland Señors, which was a tribute then, but would no doubt be considered “racist” today.) 

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. Our romanticized notions of pirates come from the “golden age of fictional piracy,” epitomized by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1881’s Treasure Island with Long John Silver and his band of merry brigands, plundering the seas while flying the “Jolly Roger.” J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan helped define the fictional pirate archetype in the person of Captain Hook. Today, the pirate is further glorified by  Disney’s film franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean, which has grossed close to $4 billion.

 “Buccaneers” were murderous pirates who attacked shipping in the Caribbean during the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries, and fans get to cheer these rascals on every Sunday in Tampa Bay, Florida.  Rather than celebrating these thieves and killers, it occurs to me that the Tampa Bay owners might consider a team name actually worthy of admiration and respect – say, “The Admirals” or “The Captains” - you know, the good guys of the sea. Tell me this: For what reason does the NFL encourage the selection of motley  brutes and scoundrels for the names of football teams, if not to glorify the violence in the sport?

Some team names insult the intelligence of the fan. Take the Buffalo Bills. That franchise is the successor to the old AAFC Buffalo Bills, who were named, believe it or not, after a local barbershop quartet. The nickname is a play on the name of William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846-1917). Given the linguistic implausibility of the plural “Bills,” English teachers should be outraged, because the name, as used, conjures up a vision of fifty-three football players who all happen to be named Bill. (The word “bill” itself has several definitions, but none of them have to do with any kind of historical figure.)  Cody was a mercenary soldier, Indian killer, and slaughterer of the majestic American bison on a massive scale. In the 18 month period 1867-1868, it’s documented that he killed 4,280 of them under a contract for the Kansas Pacific Railroad, in the process forcing the relocation of thousands of Native Americans – redskins, if you will - from their ancestral hunting grounds. He rebranded himself as a legend and became rich with his immensely popular “Wild West Show,” which featured real Indians performing as savages, shooting fake arrows. Cody’s treatment of real Native Americans was bigoted and despicable. Despite that, he’s a romanticized icon of the American West.  

 The origin of the name “Buffalo” for the New York town probably originated with the local Buffalo Creek, which was named for the American bison. So we have the owners of the Buffalo NFL football franchise, with a stupidity bordering on the moronic, championing in their name the most famous and notorious exterminator of the animal for which their own city is named! Even worse is the glorification of Cody, a merciless slaughterer of innocent animals and Native Americans. I’m surprised PETA or the Indian lobby in Washington hasn’t become involved in a campaign to force a name change in Buffalo. Renaming the team the Seneca or the Iroquois would honor the indigenous people of the area and make a lot more sense than the insipid “Bills.”          

The Baltimore Colts played their first season in 1953. They were named to honor Maryland’s horse racing culture, which, of course, is nothing more than legalized gambling conducted by rich men who exploit expensive animals. But in 1984, the owner moved the team, mascot and all, and they became the Indianapolis Colts. Since Indianapolis isn’t famous for anything except a war memorial, the hand-me-down name now makes no sense at all. I suppose the fans should be grateful for a non-offensive, non-racist nickname, but the “Majors” or “Colonels” or “Generals” or “Soldiers” would be more appropriate and inspiring for Indianapolis. Do you want your kid to root for a symbol of the rich man’s vice or a genuine hero?   

          Speaking of horses, a bronco can refer to a “wild, untrained horse or one that habitually bucks.” It also refers to the bucking horses used in rodeo events such as bareback and saddle riding. I don’t know about you, but I lasted about ten minutes at the only rodeo I ever attended. Terrorizing these poor animals in the name of “sport” seems to me to be about as low as a human being can get, and for the Denver franchise to glorify the senseless cruelty that the word “bronco” evokes is incomprehensible. About the only thing Denver has going for it is the skiing in the suburbs, so why not rename the politically incorrect “Broncos” something more appropriate, something kids and fans can root for with a free conscience? I like the Denver Snowmen. That would be a much more fun team to cheer for than one comprised of captive, abused animals, wouldn’t it?       

I lived in Dallas for twenty years, and can tell you that the only cowboys in Dallas County are one with designer boots who go to line dances in places called “Cowtown Ballroom” in order to get drunk and pick up the opposite sex, and the only horses in town are at the polo clubs. Dallas originated as a trading post, unlike its neighbor to the west, Fort Worth, which was an authentic cow town.  Since Jerry Jones bought the team in the early 1990’s, they’ve managed to win only half of their games. Real cowboys wrestle the steer to the ground and hogtie it, they don’t charge $80 to park your car in their fancy new corral so you can watch them be fail half the time. What Dallas is really famous for is shopping and assassinations. Since the “The Assassins” is  probably out, I would suggest the more appropriate “Dallas Whites,” because one glance at the 2013 Cowboys Cheerleader’s calendar tells you all you need to know: Morgan, Samantha, Paige, Rachel, Kaitlyn, Jennifer, Courtni, Jessica, Abby, Ashley, Jenna, Hannah, another Ashley, Danielle, Amelia, another Jessica, Jordan, Kim, another Jennifer, Kinzie, Carisa, Lauren, Olivia, Mackenzie, Kelsey, Holly, Mia, Brittney, Angela, Alex, Katy, Jacqueline, Emma, Nicole, Sydney and Veronica. A panorama of photogenic white-bread American cheesecake, in a city that prides itself on its multiculturalism. “America’s Team” is a billion-dollar tenderfoot enterprise that represents neither the rich heritage of the American cowboy nor the reality of today’s world. Shucks, Slim, where’s the outrage?           

If you feel like cheering for a franchise that symbolizes greed and failure, go to Pittsburgh, where the Steelers (originally the Pirates) were founded in 1933. As a result of a fan contest in 1940, the name was changed to represent the city’s reputation as the "Steel Capital of the World," which evolved from 1875 when Andrew Carnegie came to town. In 1901, the U.S. Steel Corporation was formed, and by 1911 Pittsburgh was the nation's eighth largest city, producing between a third and a half of the nation's steel. But due to a variety of financial factors beginning in the late 1970’s, the steel industry in Pittsburgh imploded and following the 1981–1982 recession the mills laid off hundreds of thousands of  workers and  began to shut down. These closures caused railroads, mines, and other factories across the region to fail. The local economy suffered an epic depression. So the Steelers moniker is obsolete at best and today is nothing but a reminder that America has failed miserably to compete in the global economy. Is this the kind of American history we want to brag about? (The  steel capital of the world today is, you may have guessed, China, which produces five times the amount of steel that American does, so the “Beijing Steelers” should be an option when the NFL expands to Asia in 2020.) The Pennsylvania state animal is the whitetail deer, but renaming the team the “Bucks,” for instance, is also fraught with problems. Pennsylvania leads the country in deer vs. vehicle collisions, and every time the Bucks lost on the road the newspapers would use the headline, say, “Road Kill in Seattle,” which would inflame animal-rights activists.    

In keeping with its agenda of glorifying savagery and violence, the NFL likes teams named for large, feral cats with reputations for bloodthirstiness - Lions, Bengals, Panthers and Jaguars. All are savage beasts in the wild and practice “survival of the fittest,” yet the NFL wants to attach a rather romantic nobility to them. You can take the kiddies to see these majestic creatures locked up in cages and “habitats” at your local zoo, pacing neurotically in their confinement, bleary-eyed, fed a “balanced” diet, drugged, prodded by their keepers, and bred for exhibition and profit.    These endangered, enslaved animals, impotent in their captivity and hunted in the wild, are exploited for profit by the millionaire owners of NFL teams in Detroit, Charlotte, Cincinnati and Jacksonville.   And what horrific dreams can we expect our children to have when their Sundays are filled with visions of large, growling cats, ripping flesh and clawing their prey to death?  These teams are nothing more than symbols epitomizing man’s cruelty and inhumanity to other living creatures.  

If the NFL absolutely has to name its teams after animals, why don’t we honor the domestic pets that America adores?  The “Detroit Dogs,” for instance, or the “Pittsburg Pussycats?” You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be more fun to root for those teams, and a great deal less harmless that the numbing of violence the NFL strives to inculcate in our impressionable psyches.  

   

          In San Francisco, they want you to believe that by naming their NFL franchise the “49’ers,” that they’re paying tribute to “the pioneering and adventurous spirit of the men of the 1849 gold rush in the Sierra Nevada mountains east of San Francisco.” What the name really symbolizes, of course, is human greed. By making romantic heroes out of the estimated 300,000 money-grubbing people who flocked to California 164 years ago to try to “get rich quick,” the team ignores the darker history of the Gold Rush and commemorates nothing but the lengths men will go to satiate their eternal frenzy for money.  The Gold Rush left tens of thousands of deserted families to fend for themselves back home while their menfolk succumbed to the illusory allure of easy wealth in California. Many were never heard from again.  On the way to California thousands of would-be prospectors died from accidents, drowning, cholera, and other causes; others were killed due to mining accidents or violence. Prostitution, alcoholism, slavery and deplorable living conditions were hallmarks of the era, and the human and environmental costs of the Gold Rush were huge. Native Americans, dependent on traditional hunting and agriculture, became the victims of starvation, as gravel, silt and toxic chemicals from prospecting operations killed fish and destroyed habitats. Their game disappeared and their land was stolen from them. They died in large numbers due to white-introduced diseases such as smallpox, influenza and measles. Some estimates indicate fatality rates of 80–90% in Native American populations during the smallpox epidemics of the Gold Rush era. These deaths were caused by the “pioneering and adventuresome” men whose present-day avatars we cheer for every Sunday in San Francisco. But they have another problem in San Francisco (which, by the way, is exactly 131 miles from the epicenter of the Gold Rush and the city has no legitimate connection or claim to the “49’ers” in the first place.)  Soon they’ll be moving 40 miles south to a new taxpayer-subsidized stadium in a place called Santa Clara, so the name “San Francisco 49er’s” will become even more of a complete fraud.   The reason for the move? Pure avarice, of course. The owners, developers and politicians of San Francisco all wanted a bigger piece of the pie that the others were willing to give them, so the 49’ers picked up their ball and left for more a more favorable stadium deal.  And every time you pull on your Levi’s, you’ll be paying the $220 million in naming rights for the new, grand monument to human greed in Santa Clara.  

Located 117 miles from Milwaukee is a place called Green Bay, where the NFL Packers play. This franchise dates to 1919 when the Indian Packing Company, a purveyor of canned meats, the forerunner of Spam, first sponsored the team. In exchange for supplying the team’s uniforms, the operators called the team the “Packers” to honor, I suppose, the poor butchering schlumps toiling in the slaughterhouse. The industry has traditionally been known for its unsanitary practices and  working conditions, and has always opposed measures such as the federal Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act. So if your want your team to commemorate wholesale animal slaughter amidst deplorable working conditions, the Packers are for you. Perhaps the most insensitive aspect of the Packers’ name is that it forces such of their fans who happen to be vegetarians to root for the team. This blatant disrespect of a growing number of Americans is intolerable.

“Falcons,” “Eagles” and “Seahawks” (a nickname for the osprey) are all classified as raptors, or birds of prey - fierce creatures which hunt and eat other living creatures in order to survive. All are names (Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Seattle) well in keeping with the NFL’s agenda to ennoble the concept of violence to American consumers. Philadelphia’s team logo is a glowering, angry eagle with a wide-open beak. He’s clearly mad about something and looks about ready to snap some opposing defensive lineman’s leg off.  Like all birds of prey, eagles have large hooked beaks which allow them to rip the flesh from their living prey – mice, snakes, gophers, and any living creature on the ground smaller than itself. Swooping down from the sky, the eagle clutches and eviscerates his victim in powerful talons and flies away, noshing on the wing. Raptors are the raiders and buccaneers of the avian world, so they’re especially well suited to represent the NFL’s product. Philadelphia’s mascot is the cartoony “Swoop” – a feathered clown who prances up and down the sidelines, indoctrinating children too young to understand why their parents have dragged them to a loud, drunken orgy like a professional football game. It’s to see the funny Eagle, Timmy, who wants you to become an Eagles fan for life. Swoop wants you to cajole your parents for another hot dog and some cotton candy, Timmy. Later, when you get older, you can buy season tickets from him.    

What falcons enjoy most is eating other birds. These flying cannibals swoop down at speeds up to 200 miles per hour to grab their prey. They’re murdering, remorseless varmints, yet in Atlanta, they’re represented by “Freddie Falcon,” another idiot in a bird costume. The osprey is known variously as the Sea Hawk, the Fish Eagle, or the Fish Hawk. You guessed it, what they do is swoop down and snare little fishies right out  of the water. The Seahawk’s emblem is that of a frowning, distinctly angry raptor, but for the kiddies, the franchise owners have dumbed him down to “Blitz,” who, of course, is just another unemployed actor willing to wear a bird costume in order to pay the rent.       

          You may be wondering about the Cardinals of Tempe, Arizona, the college suburb of Phoenix. They flew their St. Louis nest of twenty-seven years – greed and failed stadium extortion were involved - for more money, taking their jockstraps and the Cardinal name with them, leaving a generation of fans in the lurch. They were originally named after the St. Louis baseball team, the Cardinals, who were first called the Brown Stockings. When the Browns changed to uniforms with bright red stripes, people started calling them the Cardinals and the name was formally adopted in 1900. The Cardinals football franchise, despite the presence of yet another belligerent bird on their helmets, is not named for the avian Cardinalidae, but for the color on the uniform of a baseball team 113 years ago. The North American songbird known as the cardinal is attested from 1670s and was named for its resemblance to  the red robes of the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, the Arizona NFL franchise is exclusionary to the Jews, Protestants, Muslims and Hindus of America. “Big Red,” their sacred yet angry bird mascot, doesn’t tell you that because he’s busy fascinating the kiddies and engendering their lifelong allegiance to the franchise.

          Speaking of the Catholic Church, even if you’re an atheist, in New Orleans you’ve got to root for the Saints, who are named after both All Saints Day and an old gospel song which became a New Orleans and Dixieland standard. The song, “When the Saints Go Marching In,” takes much of its imagery from the horrific Book of Revelation. The team name is objectionable and discriminatory to Asians, Hindus, and all others in America who don’t espouse the western concepts of Christianity or the Catholic Church, which, as I understand it, require a person to have performed two miracles, or supernatural events, before it “canonizes” them into “sainthood.” There have been about ten thousand such wizards over the centuries, although none of them has yet found the key to world peace or a cure for cancer, which you would think some capable miracle worker would eventually get around to. The team itself performed a miracle when it won the Super Bowl in 2009.  

When The Colts moved to Indianapolis for a new stadium deal, Baltimore was left without a team. The void was filled in 1996 when Cleveland Browns – seeking a new taxpayer-subsidized stadium deal – high-tailed it to Baltimore. The owners, rejecting “Lobsters,” “Shrimp,” “Prawns” and “Sea Anemones,” and unable to come up with new fierce bird or criminal, selected “Ravens” because for the team name because, they say, Edgar Allen Poe is associated with Baltimore. Poe did live there from 1832 to1835, but he spent most of his life in New York, where he wrote and published his famous dark poem The Raven.  The team’s selection of “Ravens” for their name is a wonderful teaching opportunity for the youngsters, who can now learn all about the famous poem and its celebrated author, whose recurring themes throughout his body of work are death, decomposition, premature burial, the reanimation of the dead and mourning. When the kiddies have finished reading his nightmarish, gothic books, they can learn about his life, too. How he enlisted in the army under a false name, was court martialed from West Point, was fired from a newspaper job for drunkenness in 1827 and at the age of twenty-six, how he married his thirteen-year old cousin Charlotte. Poe was found delirious on a Baltimore street in 1849 and died the next day, from what the newspapers "congestion of the brain" and "cerebral inflammation," which were euphemisms for alcoholism or drug addiction.
As we commemorate this great poet’s life and work in Baltimore every Sunday, though, we also know that the raven – po’ folks call him a crow – has a worldwide mythology, much of which is associated with death and lost souls. The raven itself – the team calls their cute, furry bird mascot “Poe” - prefers to dine on earthworms, frogs, eggs, nestlings, mice and carrion. Yes, the raven is a baby-killer who raids other birds’ nests. Let the kiddies ponder that as they go to sleep at night, dreaming of their sports heroes and hoping the doors and windows are locked.  Although Poe said that his raven was meant to symbolize "mournful and never-ending remembrance," in Baltimore he symbolizes an average seat cost of $91.92 and $8.00 for a hot dog.    

The Chiefs of Kansas City, like the Redskins, were named for Native Americans. But that name isn’t as objectionable as “Redskins,” because a Chief, I think the reasoning is, is a boss Indian, so that’s apparently OK in terms of political correctness . And the NFL can hardly control the 70,000 fans that pack Arrowhead Stadium to intone the “Indian war chant” and do the “tomahawk chop” when the team is, er, scalping its opponents. But the fans in Kansas City don’t care what you think, because they’re too busy inhaling barbecue and swilling beer and being entertained by “Warpaint,” the team’s horse, who gets a brisk ride up the sidelines whenever the Chiefs score a touchdown. Needless to say, the poor animal doesn’t get much exercise, although the Chiefs will haul him out to your corporate event in trade for many wampum.   

If you think that inappropriate and violent team nomenclature pervades all professional sports in America, though, and that I’m picking on the NFL, you’d be wrong. Out of the thirty MLB teams, only the Giants, Tigers, Braves, Indians, Rays and Diamondbacks have names that might be considered objectionable in terms of the imagery they evoke.  And although the “Milwaukee Brewers” is a clear glorification of alcoholism, the vast majority of baseball teams  have innocuous, kid-friendly names, among them the “Angels” and the “Padres,” for God’s sake. The same can be said for the NBA, although it includes the Hawks, Bobcats, Bulls, Warriors, Grizzlies, Timberwolves and Raptors - but a league that includes The Pelicans can’t be all bad. For some reason, the National Hockey League likes to name its teams for natural disasters  - the Hurricanes of Carolina  and the Avalanche of Colorado. It also has the Devils, The Predators, the Sharks, the Panthers, and the Coyotes. But to me, The Penguins of Pittsburgh soften the blow – I’d root for the penguins to escape the Avalanche any day, wouldn’t you?  

What disturbs me most about the NFL, though, is not its subliminal effort to romanticize  violence, it’s the pandering to the American people it stoops to in its association with the United States military. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but for the past few years the NFL has gone to great pains to trumpet its “patriotism” by featuring pre-game and halftime activities involving the American military. “To honor our troops,” booms the public address system announcer, “who serve so selflessly protecting our freedoms…”  Blah, blah, blah, they go on. You can expect some kind of NFL-sponsored flag-waving military tribute during most live and broadcast NFL events. It’s become part of their brand, shamelessly portraying themselves as exemplars of Star-Spangled patriotism. But if you think for a minute that the millionaires of the NFL care a damn for American men and women in the service and the “NFL Loves our Military” campaign is anything but a very canny public relations ploy to dupe the public into believing they care about anything but money, I’ve got a steel mill in Pittsburgh to sell you. Pandering to America’s fascination with violence on the one hand while cloaking itself in patriotism on the other is, of course, brazenly manipulative and shameless. And in case the irony it hasn’t occurred to you, today’s terrorists  are nothing but the modern equivalent of yesterday’s raiders and buccaneers,  without the historical sheen and romantic spin. Every Sunday the NFL glorifies the historical forerunners of the murderous enemy our military is fighting today.  Why?

As to a new name for the Washington Redskins, I’ve been giving the matter a lot of thought, and I just can’t come up with anything bad enough.  Compared to what a team based in Washington D.C. ought rightfully to be called, I’d advise them to stick with “Redskins.” The logical alternatives are all much worse.        

John Dawson, 2013