Should the Redskins change their names to the Washington Popes?

no one can tell another what is insulting. it is not for non natives to tell us when we should or should not be insulted.

the demeaning mascots of schools and sports teams perpetuates harmful stereotypes of native people. in a land where there are so few of us left, these mascots may be the only image today's citizens have of native people. speaking for myself, i am not red with a huge grin and large nose. what is the "honor" in this?

http://www.sportssoundspro.com/ClevelandIndiansLog...

remove the feather and make him brown and i guarantee you....he would not be a mascot.

want to know why so many people in usa only think about us in the past? because that's all they see..these images. i'm not a mascot. i'm not a stereotype. and my culture is not for your halftime entertainment.

and all the "part native" people are mostly white. you get NO say in whether this insults us because you aren't US. you don't have to deal with the racism we deal with every day. and it is not YOUR children who come home crying because the teacher made kids dress up in paper feathers and vests and make "whoowhoo" noises while slapping their mouths.

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“We are honoring Indians; you should feel honored.”

Native people are saying that they don’t feel honored by this symbolism. We experience it as no less than a mockery of our cultures.

“Why is an attractive depiction of an Indian warrior just as offensive as an ugly caricature?”

Both depictions uphold stereotypes. Both firmly place Indian people in the past, separate from our contemporary cultural experience.

It is difficult, at best, to be heard in the present when someone is always suggesting that your real culture only exists in museums. The logos keep us marginalized and are a barrier to our contributing here and now.

“We never intended the logo to cause harm.”

That no harm was intended when the logos were adopted may be true. It is also true that we Indian people are saying that the logos are harmful to our cultures, and especially to our children, in the present.

“This logo issue is just about political correctness.”

Using the term “political correctness” to describe the attempts of concerned Native American parents, educators and leaders to remove stereotypes from the public schools trivializes a survival issue.

Systematic genocide over four centuries has decimated more than 95 percent of the indigenous population of the Americas. Today, the average life expectancy of Native American males is 45 years. The teen suicide rate among Native people is several times higher than the national average. Stereotypes, ignorance, silent inaction and even naive innocence damage and destroy individual lives and whole cultures. Racism kills.

“We are helping you preserve your culture.”

The responsibility for the continuance of our cultures falls to Native people. We accomplish this by surviving, living and thriving; and, in so doing, we pass on to our children our stories, traditions, religions, values, arts and languages.

We sometimes do this important work with people from other cultural backgrounds, but they do not and cannot continue our cultures for us. Our ancestors did this work for us, and we continue to carry the culture for the generations to come.

Our cultures are living cultures — they are passed on, not “preserved.”

It's not that the name disgraces their heritage. It's that the nickname has historically been used in a disparaging context. Whether certain Indian tribes are offended by it isn't even the point, really. The botton line is, "Redskin" is a racial slur, and in this day and age, nobody should be using it. It would be like calling a team the Honkies, Micks, Spicks, Dagos, Chinks, or that N-word that you can't say in polite company.

I know, some people want to ban sports references to Indians altogether. There's no reason to do that, as long as the references are done respectfully. In my hometown, our school's athletic teams were nicknamed the Chiefs, because our town was named after an Indian chief who gave his life saving the white settlers from an attack by a rival tribe. So in our case, using "Chiefs" as a nickname was actually an honorary thing to do.

Although I'm primarily white, I have ancestry in two different Indian tribes -- Cherokee and Blackfoot -- so I can respect where the Indians are coming from when they complain about things like this. And just to be clear, I'm not a big fan of political correctness. I say "Christmas" when everyone else says "holiday." In fact, I even hate the term "Native American," because it's meaningless. The people indigenous to this continent aren't native Americans, they're *pre*-Americans. Anyone born in America is a native American, whether your skin is red, white, or black. Same deal with "African American" -- Charlize Theron is an African American, because she was born in South Africa and now she's an American citizen. But she's white. So most of these PC terms are ridiculous.

But all that said, I don't think it's too much to ask to refer to Indian tribes in respectful terms. Not every complaint like this is a symptom of overblown PC sensitivity, and it's unfair to treat them as though they're all the same.

I think a good compromise would be to call them the Braves. That was their original nickname when they were in Boston, so there's even a history to go along with it. And it's not a slur. If anything, it suggests pride and fearsomeness.

I am part Cherokee and the name does not bother me one bit.

It's just a group of people who want to start drama. I am so sick of all this "Politically Correct" nonsense. Give me a break.

I vote for "Foreskins"

Let's honor the men.

After all it's a man's game.

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No, native americans need to toughen up. Coming from a native american family I believe we need to move toward a warrior mentality and away from a victim mentality. Political correctness is ruining our country.

No. The Catholics would only get offended.