Saving the Skins

For John, BLUF:  Maybe the election of Mr Donald Trump will reduce somewhat this kind of Virtue Signaling regarding team names.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Redskins need to ignore PC culture and keep their name

To be honest, this Naomi Schaefer Riley article in yesterday's edition of The New York Post is an advert for her new book, The New Trail of Tears: How Washington is Destroying American Indians, but that doesn't mean she is wrong.

Here is the beginning of her article:

“It’s kind of a funny thing, though. A redskin playing for the Redskins.” That was Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman talking to ESPN about the $75 million deal he just signed to join the Washington Redskins this fall.  Norman, whose parents are both part Native American, doesn’t seem too concerned about the mascot of his new team.

“Redskins is not offensive to me,” he told ESPN’s Kevin Van Valkenburg.

A year ago, Mike Wise, senior writer at ESPN, declared that a name change for the Redskins was inevitable.  First it was journalists like those at Slate who refused to even publish the name.  Then there were petitions to Twitter, Google and Facebook to remove the accounts belonging to the Redskins.  There were protests in front of the stadium.  California enacted legislation barring schools from using the Redskins name for their mascots.  Madison, Wis., banned children from wearing any kind of clothing with a Native-themed mascot.  And, of course, the Obama administration decided to strip the team of its trademark protections.

As Wise wrote:  “This is no longer merely a civil rights/social justice issue affecting our most marginalized ethnicity.  Many people now have made the obvious leap that this issue impacts people of color.”

Well, maybe.  The Washington Post conducted a poll that found more than 9 in 10 Native Americans weren’t offended by the name at all.

It seems that a deeper examination of the whole "Red Skins" imbroglio shows that (1) it is those who are not Native Americans who are the ones offended and (2) that it is possible that those none Native Americans, are, through actions on the part of the Federal Government, making things worse for Native Americans, not better.

Read Ms Riley's book.

By the way, this was posted by Ms Sarah Hoyt.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff