Casual racism surrounds us. Yes, we have made strides addressing it, but the battle is far from won. Just read through the comment sections of any online news source and you will have waded through a sewer of racist bilge. But major campaigns by black civil rights groups have made changes over the years. No more “Sambo’s” restaurants spread through our cities. The use of blackface has been condemned and censured.
We have addressed the use of the ‘N-word’ in numerous forums, and there is no black person in America that fails to recognize that some white person screaming ‘N-r’ at them isn’t doing it with love.
As communities of color gain political clout, and a certain critical mass, we have launched campaigns to address racist language and imagery, along with legislation and social policy. The entire civil rights movement, which continues to battle (the war is far from won) is a testimony to this. As the Latino community (the group most often targeted as “illegal”) grows in numbers and strength we have seen recent campaigns like “Drop the I word“.
The one community of color that does not have strength in either numbers or political clout, that does not have the benefit of a mass civil rights movement are our brothers and sisters who are Native Americans. It therefore becomes the responsibility for those of us who have been the victims and targets of racist epithets that are clearly dubbed unacceptable to fight against them when applied to other groups. That goes for the LBGT community who have fought against pejoratives like ‘f-t’ and the feminist community who have stopped the casual use of words like ‘c-t’ to denigrate women.
The Oneida Nation has just stepped up the pressure.
The Oneida Nation launched a new radio ad that began airing in the D.C. market on Sunday ahead of Monday night’s game between the Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. “That word, Redskins, is not a harmless term,” Halbritter says in the ad. “We do not deserve to be called Redskins. We deserve to be treated as what we are: Americans.”
Three news outlets-Slate, The New Republic, and Mother Jones-announced in August that they would no longer use “Redskins” to write about the Washington football team; the New York Times and AP have said they will continue using “Redskins.”American Indian Movement Youth Council Leader Tessa McLean of the Ojibwe Nation told NBC News that the term is offensive because of its reminder of colonization. “The dominating society says ‘we’re going to take your land, your language and culture and we’re going to determine a mascot for you, and you’re supposed to be okay with it.'”
The Redskins faced similar pressure from outside groups in the early ’60s that led to the team’s desegregation, making the Redskins the last NFL team to do so.
You can join with them and go to the website “Change the Mascot” listen to the radio ad and take action.
The ombudsman for the Washington Post, Patrick Pexton recently published this piece:
Listening to Native Americans.
The pressure to change the Redskins’ name began earlier this year after the Washington Post published various columns calling for a new name. In February, Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton defended the paper’s choice after attacks that the city was bowing to the pressure to be politically correct. “Native Americans are not mascots or historical bygones to be imitated,” Pexton wrote, “they’re flesh-and-blood Americans, as much a part of the warp and weft of the living fabric of this country as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.”
In May, 10 members of Congress-nine Democrats and one Republican-sent a letter to Redskins owner Dan Snyder and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell urging them to change the team’s name. The same group of lawmakers also introduced a bill to block companies from trademarking the term “redskin” in reference to Native Americans.
Give it a read.
This issue is not new. Read Carter Camp’s essay “MASS RACIAL TAUNTING; AMERICAS WEEKEND SPORT” which was posted at Native American Netroots and Daily Kos in 2008. He opened:
For thousands of people in America, Friday nights in the fall are for going to the High School football game. On Saturday, college towns across America swell to double or triple their normal size as fans pour into town to cheer the local college football team. On Sunday, Sunday evening, and Monday night, millions of Americans gather in stadiums, in bars, and in front of their televisions to see a great communal American pastime, professional football. But did you ever stop to think that a great percentage of these same all-American people also will spend some of their time hurling racial epithets at my people? Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (and Monday night) millions of Americans will scream and beg for my Indian people to be scalped, chopped, burned, tomahawked and murdered, by the Indians, Savages, Redskins, and Braves across the field. In the winter it moves inside for basketball and in the spring back outside for baseball, but every weekend all year around, one of Americas’ favorite things to do is to spend some time ignorantly portraying a stereotypical Indian person or spending a few hours mock-hating and degrading Indian people. And when we Indians dare mention it is offensive, they argue they should keep on doing it because ‘they have done it for a long time’, longer ago than when they kept slaves or would not let women vote, so long that now it is a tradition! You see, in America even screaming racial epithets can become a cherished tradition that some people are willing to fight a civil war over.*
If the NFL team in DC called themselves “The Coons” or The Jigaboo’s” they would be run out of town on a rail. Immediately.
This rant today isn’t just about right-wing racism. I’ve seen folks on the left try to rationalize and poo-poo protests like this as “playing the race card” and as being too “pc”.
Listen to what Ndn people are saying.
The racism that targets any one group takes us all down.
We are in this battle together.
Cross-posted from Black Kos
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