The Argument Against The Washington Racial Slurs Football Team

We've been discussing this with people recently....and I have more information to share but figure that this was one of those things that I wanted to share with everyone...not just those few individuals.  It's a pretty hot topic after that one episode of the Daily Show and with some of the ads you may or may not have seen.





And some of you know that I'm in a Native American Humanities class where we've been discussing and reading about this over the past few months.  Matthew posted something on the book of face at the beginning of the football season that got a bit of back and forth commenting, but I feel like it needs a little more attention.

red·skin  n.
usually offensive.
-American Indian
-the word 'redskin' is offensive and should be avoided

From wikipedia: In a 2014 interview after the Trademark decision, Amanda Blackhorse the lead petitioner expressed her opinion: "The name itself actually dates back [to] the time when the Native American population was being exterminated, and bounty hunters were hired to kill Native American people... So, in order to show that they made their kill, they had to bring back a scalp or their skin."

From "Just Good Sports" by Suzan Shown Harjo: "The most derogatory name for Native Peoples in the English language is 'redskins'. The term has its origins in the late 1600s, when Europeans introduced commercial bounty-hunting in North America. they first paid fur trappers and other mercenaries for the heads and whole bodies of Native men, women, and children. When that practice proved too cumbersome, bounty-payers accepted the bloody red skins and scalps as proof of 'Indian kill'. From that time and into the 1900s, 'redskins' was the term that was used in newspapers and books when writers wanted to convey the worst impression of Native Peoples. In Hollywood westerns, the term was usually preceded by such adjectives as 'dirty', 'lazy', 'no good' and 'theiving'. The term is despised by most Native Peoples and is seldom used in polite society now, except as a 'Native' sports reference."

So there's all of that.
And with that, I understand that some people are slanting the conversation by thinking that the term is somehow "honoring" the Native American culture.
But please....explain to me how it's supposed to be an honor to remind someone of that term's origin?

There are these defenses:
    "But there are the Celtics and the Vikings....and they aren't all pissed off about logos...."
When was the last time you saw a Celtic or a Viking?

And aren't Irish people kinda done with being likened to leprechauns?
If they aren't, you know why that is?
Because they were white dudes coming up with ideas for a team name and logo.  It was self-appointed.
Because teams like "the fighting Irish" don't mind having a little angry drunk leprechaun as their logo.
And because teams like the "Patriots" don't mind having a brooding white dude as their logo.

"But what about the Buccaneers or the pirates on the Raiders logo?"  Stop.
Those are occupations.
That don't exist anymore.

"The Seminoles signed off on using 'Chief' Osceola as a mascot."
1. The Seminoles have a lot of casino money pumping into the state of Florida.
2. When they signed off on it, they were able to keep more of their casino money instead of getting into a lawsuit.
3. Osceola was never a chief and the "mascot" is a white dude in red face.

Not any less offensive. Just sold.

If you're a team that's completely making up a Native American character or changing who an actual person was in history...how is that honoring anything?

And what the fuck is this about?

Do you think there would ever be a team that would even consider making a banner that said, "Hey Jews, you stink! Head for the showers!!" or "Let's hang those Negroes high!"
Ugh...that's just awful.  Seriously, even just typing that out, I hurt my own feelings and all I can visualize in my head is a bunch of twat cheerleaders standing around all Mean Girls style coming up with that horrible shite above.
I graduated from Apopka and the worst of our banners was just "Pioneers can suck a fatty!!"
I still don't really know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  Exactly what kind of "fatty" are we talking about here?

"But Dan Snyder started Original Americans Foundation and is giving back to certain tribal communities."....
1. OAF is a dumb name.
     oaf.  n.
          -a clumsy, stupid person; a lout.
-AND-
2. Good.  He should be.

Do I think the Washington football team should change their name?
It's probably not a bad idea and is likely to happen in the near future, but ultimately, I don't care too much because I'm not a fan, I don't buy their merchandise, and am falling out of love (if there ever was any) with the NFL as a whole anyway.
Plus, they suck.

GO BUCS!!

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Sunday, November 16, 1:00 PM

FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-8)

27 - 7

Final

Washington Redskins (3-7)

Movie Monday - Red State

WOOHOO!!!  A MOVIE!!
Its only been, what, like 6 weeks or some shit since the last one of these?
Got a good one for ya today.  You turds ready?

We went to see this badboy last night.  One night only engagement followed by Q&A with Kevin Smith via UStream.

First, the movie.
What happens when homophobic jesus freaks are well armed and kidnapping kids they lure with the devil's business?
The FBI shows up at their compound and shoot things up.
Also, the sheriff is gay, which doesn't really help the town with dealing with the religious cult.
Michael Parks as Abin Cooper - the cult "father"....was absolutely captivating on screen.
John Goodman, the same, and looks great after the weight loss.  Its nice to still have him around & lookin' good.  Years ago, I would've thought he'd go the way of John Candy.
Pretty damn good cast all around, really.

Its being claimed as a "horror" movie.  I wouldn't call it that.
I'd say its more of an action thriller - and even using the term "thriller" seems a bit off.

I won't give you any spoilers here but towards the end John Goodman makes an amazing speech about how, when he was a kid, his grandmother had a couple of dogs as family pets.  One day, he was finishing dinner and threw the dogs a turkey leg and they went at each other over this turkey leg like they'd never known one another.
Then he says, "People just do the strangest things when they believe they're entitled.  But they do even stranger things when they just plain believe."

Ruminate on that shit for a minute or two.

Second - the Q&A on Ustream.
While they were streaming and setting things up, they had the twitter feed going and folks were crackin' me up with things like, "WTF, I paid $20 to see Kevin Smith on the computer?" and "I missed Breaking Bad for this?"
Kevin Smith was wearing a hockey jersey that made him look 10x bigger & started answering questions about how they took care of all the investors first, didn't take huge salaries in an effort to get the flick out there, and then the stream glitched out so we left.

There's some fun trivia here and an original ending summarized here with more about how they made it on a small budget and crap.

I loved it and give it 5 out of 5 Gabriel's horn blasts.