...the largest portion of anything in me is indian but I'm not a tribe member anywhere, though my family was as recent as my father and grandfather...
...What needs to be overcome is putting so much power in a word. A word can only put you down if you allow it to. If you have pride in your heritage, self respect and self confidence in who you are, NO word should be able to put you down....
...I have tremendous pride in Indian heritage. What I don't have pride in, is what Native Americans of today do and have done to the image. No school or team today would choose to name their team or create a mascot based on the current stereotype Native Americans made for themselves.
Originally Posted by: PackFanWithTwins
People should endeavor to be kind to others and not put down any race of People, especially if being nasty to others interferes with the privilege of possessing a certain type of NFL jersey.
Hereās a
YOU TUBE VIDEO video. See a wide array of how Native Americans associate with the word āRedskinā [Note: most, not all, find it negative].
SCOTUS held that DEROGATORY trademarks are protected by 1st Amend. āRedskinā is DEROGATORY, period. This axiom isnāt affected by the fact that some might say itās not offensive to them or it wasnāt meant to be offensive. The N-word is offensive and can cause suffering even if some donāt think so or one didnāt mean it to cause suffering by its use. Also, it is ignorant, lacks scholarship, childish, prejudice to identify a āleader;ā then reduce ā[her]ā or ā[their]ā thinking to a sound bite; and decidedly racist to presume that misrepresented sound bite speaks for all Native Americans.
One Native American asserts heās proud of his āIndian heritage;ā but not by the way NAs act today. He is not a member of a tribe; his father and G-father were. I spent some time reviewing my copious writings of my recent NA encounters to produce a sound-bite of what made NAs so great. They were survivors, spiritual, courageous, patriot, family-oriented, resilient, lived in harmony with the land never tried to dominate it, unyielding, strong, indomitable, and immersed in a TRIBAL mentality. When one family had an ailing member; the tribe had an ailing member. When one found food, the entire tribe ate. When the tribal council passed a healthcare bill; EVERYONE benefited equally š.
Then, they were conquered, dominated, swindled, stripped of dignity, death-marched to virtual wastelands, lied to, and for 200 years NA culture was denigrated in every form of media and in the very text books their children learned in. The USās goal was cultural genocide through physical deprivation and PROPAGANDA. In 2004, less than half of the homes on reservations had running water, 90K were homeless or under housed. In the last 40 years [sure it was no different prior], unemployment on the reservation was rarely under 70%, typically in the 80ās and often in the 90+% range. The family unit suffered as one spouse, sometimes both, had to travel to find work. They were despised by White adjacent communities and crime was rampant on the Reservation. The TRIBE was weakened as many searched for work and never returned and each successive generation dissociates more from the Tribe. We have a firsthand account of this above.
Washingtonās NFL name is just one symbol, but itās an in your face constant reminder that it is okay to denigrate NAs. And remember, NAs are much more affected by symbolism. The typical American sees 2 buffalo running on a ridge as 2 buffalo running on a ridge; a NA might see as a sign. Earthquakes are nothing more than something that makes your house shake; NAs have interpreted them as a sign [EG, Yavapai healer Echawamahuās instructions on restoring the land should be followed and Creek Chief Big Warrior saw the New Madrid Fault as a sign he should join Tecumsah in rebellion v. the US]. The Lakota believed DAPL represents a Black Snake prophesied to come into the Lakota homeland and cause destruction.
Only ignorant fools believe the immersion of words and symbols cannot shape thinking. Goebbels got a moral nation to rise to hate and kill 6M Jews in 8 years. In America in last 30 years an iconic shift in thinking regarding cigarettes occurred. Symbols of iconic TV fathers smoking [EG Ward Cleaver, Rob Petrie, Andy Griffith] were gone; alternatively, society was bombarded with the uncool, filthy and dangerous nature of smoking.
It is a big deal that NFL teams can denigrate by calling themselves āRedskinā and the President [Trump] can call Sen. Warren āPocahontas.ā Not only do things have a direct impact on NA self-esteem; but these are symbols that represent the reality that NAs truly are second class citizens and separate from White America.
Maslowās hierarchy of needs asserts that physiological and security needs must be met to allow for feelings of loving and belonging, which must be met before esteem and self-actualization can be felt. Maslow would assert NA self-esteem is extremely hampered by deplorable living conditions, safety concerns, compromised family units and the scattering, which causes generational loss off the tribe. And these derogatory symbols and words detract from a feeling of being loved and belonging.
For 200 years NAs have been physically brutalized, exterminated and portrayed as violent savages, ignorant and drunken fools. They were death-marched and enslaved to live in squalor, the family is split, the Tribe is split and they have been told over and over and over that āwe are White; you be Redskin.ā But, still even in the face of 200 years of adversity and the despicable events by our government at Standing Rock everything I saw requires one to be proud. This winter, I witnessed nothing but survivors, spirituality, courage, patriotism, family-oriented behavior, resilience, living in harmony with the land never trying to dominate it, refusal to yield, strength, indomitability, and immersion in the TRIBAL mentality.
Anyone not having pride in the steadfastness of the NA in the face of unspeakable past and present atrocities; or not being sympathetic to what occurred at Standing Rock; or not understanding the affect an NFL team degrading a Race of People has on the consciousness of America and the mind of that race; is just a damned shame and evidence that Americaās symbolistic propaganda has successfully influenced its target audience.