Thanksgiving and a Particular Problematic Team

The thanksgiving holiday, as with any holiday, comes with certain traditions. The dinner is the main event of course, the Macy’s parade is always on the television, everyone knows that Black Friday is part of the holiday too, and football on thanksgiving is a tradition almost as old as the holiday itself. Of course, that is referring to the commercialized holiday rather than the Pilgrim beginnings.

Every child in the American school system learns of the historic first thanksgiving, where the Pilgrims and Native Americans came together in celebration of their first harvest. As the children of the American school system grow older, we all find out about the Native American genocides, and how awful the treatment of them was. As we learn about the true history, we learn about cultural appropriation, and offensive words. Of course, not everyone learned, and not everything has changed, which brings me to the topic of the American football team, the Washington Redskins.

In recent years there has been a debate about the team’s name, as it is a derogatory and offensive term. However, the owner of the team, Dan Snyder, still refuses to change the name for the sake of ‘tradition’. Anyone can realize how this name is problematic, even extremely dedicated fans such as the person in this article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-emily-c-heath/redskins-and-respect-a-li_b_4178743.html . Unfortunately, the owner denies that the name is a derogatory word, and therefore refuses to change it.

On this thanksgiving, the problem Washington team name came up again, as all of the National Football League twitter accounts wished their fans a happy thanksgiving. The tweets included each team’s logo, and the Redskins team has a Native American as their mascot. So, this tweet had effectively become offensive by putting ‘happy thanksgiving’, a holiday associated with Native Americans, accompanied by a Native American face. The account was called out by many people in the comments, but there were also people who were offended that people were offended by the tweet.

While I have established the problem and controversy of the team name, and the owner’s ignorance, there is hope. Many high schools have changed their names from the derogatory word to something more acceptable, such as the DRIGGS high school in Idaho http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/teton-redskins-logo_n_3430496.html . Most high schools in the United States derive their names from professional teams. These high schools of course have their own traditions, but they can realize they need to change in response to blatant disregard for an entire race of people.

California has banned the name, and many newspapers, have stopped using the name in publication, such as San Francisco's The Chronicle http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/san-francisco-chronicle-redskins_n_4179212.html

As the Washington team’s name is completely derogatory and offensive, I believe its history has roots in colonialism, as it is an exploitation, or at least a reminder of the exploitation of Native Americans. Hopefully, with the growing pressure from football fans, newspapers, and high schools all over the country, Dan Synder will listen and change the name.