South Park took on the controversy over the Washington Redskin’s name in their season 18 preview. Better yet, they aired it during the team’s Sunday game! In this short preview clip for the upcoming season of South Park, Cartman trolls Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins, and maybe he even helps Snyder see the point which continually evades him!
In related news, fifty U.S. senators signed a letter urging the NFL to take action and change the name to something without racial overtones. In response to this and other controversy, a website called RedskinsFacts.com has been launched. The Washington Post’s fact checker Glenn Kessler examined the site and those things it claims as ‘facts’ to support the continued use of the name which is viewed by many Native Americans and Alaska Natives, as well as others as an insulting racial slur. Kessler gave it a ‘three Pinocchio rating, but he did come up with some interesting true facts of his own.
Among the ‘facts’ left out by the site: A reward of $200 was promised by Minnesota for “every redskin sent to purgatory” in an announcement published in Winona, Minn., in 1863.
f that wasn’t sickening – and I cannot imagine needing further verification, Wikipedia verifies that the term, when used in current dictionaries is viewed as “usually offensive,” “disparaging,” “insulting,” and “taboo.”
In ‘The Real Impact of Native Mascots and Team Names on American Indians,’ the authors demonstrate that names such as Snyder’s team name are psychologically harmful to American Indian and Alaska Native youth. No better description of how a hostile learning environment can result from such names can be found, than the testimony of Dahkota Kicking Bear Brown. Brown is a student and football player of a California high school, who describes what he calls a “sickening” halftime show where a female student was dressed up as an Indian and dragged onto the field in shackles as other students danced around her pretending to beat her.
It has been speculated that no one, including Snyder would support retaining any other offensive name. For instance, The Washington Uptighty Whities, The St Louis Sambos, The South Central Frito Banditos or the Boston Shanty Irish would all meet with well-placed hostility. What possible reason does Snyder have for hanging on to the offensive name? Is there a warehouse full of sweatshirts, pennants and beer can coolers he is loathe to abandon or is he truly just this thick and insensitive?