Daniel Snyder says Redskins will never change name

[alp227]

Source: USA Today

Daniel Snyder is owner of the Washington pro football team he grew up adoring. Would he ever consider changing the team name that many American Indians and others believe is a racial slur?

"We will never change the name of the team," Snyder told USA TODAY Sports this week. "As a lifelong Redskins fan, and I think that the Redskins fans understand the great tradition and what it's all about and what it means, so we feel pretty fortunate to be just working on next season."

What if his football team loses an ongoing federal trademark lawsuit? Would he consider changing it then?

"We'll never change the name," he said. "It's that simple. NEVER — you can use caps."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/redskins/2013/05/09/washington-redskins-daniel-snyder/2148127/

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The Washington City Paper put together this A-Z guide of Snyder's shoddy business practices. In 2009, Snyder converted the AM 1260 station in DC from liberal to conservative talk; to this day the station is a Salem Communications station. (Salem owns TownHall.com and is even more right wing than the mainstream RW talkers like Rush or Hannity.) And Snyder also hosted a Romney fundraiser last year. Wow.

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Gee, Snyder sounds like a real dickhead

If you are a regular in the DU sports forum, then you already know that there is a very good reason for Snyder sounding so much like a dickhead.

[Kingofalldems]

2. He sued an old lady on Social Security

because she couldn't afford her season tickets she had maintained for years.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Is that so? Well, in that case . . . PEOPLE OF WASHINGTON, ARISE IN REVOLT!!

Dan Snyder, the owner of the Washington NFL franchise whose name is just too fucking obscene place on the internet, is not only insensitive to racism against Native Americans, but he's a real skinflint.

We think the Washington NFL franchise should fire its owner for being such a dickhead and then change its name to something that is fit to print in a fucking family newspaper.

Please boycott that team until remedial action is taken.

[Kingofalldems]

6. I have boycotted for years.

I always urge others to do the same.

[riverwalker]

3. ASSHOLE

(and you can use all caps, Snyder)

[muntrv]

5. Hey Danny! I dare you to call a Navaho a redskin to his/her face. See you you don't get

your shit ass kicked!

[Zoeisright]

7. What an asshole.

Thanks for proving you're a complete dickhead, Snyder.

[MADem]

8. They shouldn't HAVE TO change their name!!!!

They should just change their LOGO!!!!!!!!!

How's this?



Much better.....

They could call 'em the Fightin' Tayties as a nickname!!!! The cheerleaders could scream "Mash 'em!! Mash 'em!!!" or "Slice 'em and fry 'em, YAY TEAM!!!"

[freshwest]

9. That is something we can all support!

[MADem]

30. When they're playing Cleveland, people can scream "HASH BROWNS!!! HASH BROWNS!!!"

[freshwest]

38. The possibilities are endless! Excellent ideas!

[Scuba]

10. Hey, dumbass Danny, the team name's already been changed.

[PeaceNikki]

12. Yes, they wear a disparaging, offensive racial slur proudly.

The term Redskin, came from two places, the skin color, then the cruel torture of skinning Native Americans for a bounty. Since their skin was red they started saying "red skins."

But mean no disrespect. Got it.

It may have been appropriate in 1932 to use such a term, but so segregation was also socially acceptable (or the law) at the time. We evolve as people. Or at least some of us do.

[PeaceNikki]

14. And maybe others are insensitive entitled assholes.

Are you a native American? In any case, you are not the arbitrator of what is or is not an ethnic slur. It is. Even if "leftallalone" doesn't *think* it is. You obviously don't give a shit about the history of the word. But it's selfish and insensitive to pretend it doesn't have horribly offensive connotations to a large group of people who were slaughtered.

So instead of defending the virtues of using this word, go spend your time on whatever *you* deem a 'worthier cause'.

[PeaceNikki]

16. Don't be a patronizing jerk. I am calm.

And, as I said, it doesn't matter whether you are a full-blooded NA or not. The term is a racial slur.

[PeaceNikki]

19. lol. Kinda ironic considering the position you're defending.

Did I offend you? I don't consider "don't be a patronizing jerk" to be offensive. I meant no disrespect. Maybe you're too sensitive.

[PeaceNikki]

21. What I think is that you call people who think a socially acceptable racial slur in 1932 is

is inappropriate in 2013 'infantile' for trying to take a stand against it.

Also- I didn't edit anything after your reply.

[PeaceNikki]

23. Remember that the next time someone tells you not to BE a patronizing jerk.

[PeaceNikki]

25. back atcha, Sunshine

[MADem]

29. I guess not.

Otherwise you'd know that the term "squaw" is highly offensive as well. Unless you're using the word in a very specific and academic way, it's one that you want to avoid using, because native peoples, particularly those from the eastern half of the country, will take umbrage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squaw

You're batting a thousand in this thread.

[MADem]

33. My Great Grannie used to use the word "colored" back in the day.

That was the "right" word back then, it was on half the signage in the segregated south--it ain't now.

Times change. "Redskin" and "squaw" are just not appropriate terms anymore. There's no unringing the bell.

[happyslug]

61. And "Colored" is still used in the name of the NAACP.

The NAACP is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The whole name is rarely used today, but the word "Colored" is still in the name.

Colored is like "Negro" another term now out of favor. It is to close to another term best referred to in an 1854 debate on the Kansas-Nebraska Act:

As an aside, whilst Douglas was making his concluding speech to this debate, he was interrupted by Seward asking clarification of some point, Douglas responded by saying:

“You can’t crawl behind that free nigger dodge” To which Seward replied with the “perfect squelch”:

“Douglas, no man will ever be President of the United States who spells the word ‘negro’ with two gs”

http://www.americancivilwar.asn.au/meet/2007_05_lincoln_path_to_pres.pdf

"Negro" came up recently in Pennsylvania. One of the Mountains in Southwestern Pennsylvania and Western Maryland is called "Negro Mountain". While, it is unknown WHY it was so named, the legends tend to agree that is was named due to the death of a African American on that Mountain in Colonial days. The problem is the history is clear, even in Colonial times it was known that the Mountain was named for an African American who died on it (but there are different legends as to when and how). Thus it was named in HONOR of an African American. The problem is Negro is now out of favor (to close to its double g cousin).

More on the controversy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro_Mountain

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2007&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=R&billNbr=0378&pn=2373

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro_Mountain

Terms often change over time. I once read a book on the "Battles of the Bible" and the writers mention the evolution of the ancient Hebrew word for female inn keeper. The term whose word by word translation would best be translated into English as "Female Innkeeper", was a term used for prostitutes by the time of the actual writing of the Old Testament. That the term actually meant a Female Inn Keeper would explain how the "Prostitutes" involved in the fall of Jericho and the story of the baby and King Solomon, could deal with the leaders of their cities, Jericho and Jerusalem. This evolution of the term is often ignored by translators of the Bible, thus you have modern translations that used the term Harlot or Prostitute for this term, even in the earlier stories for it is the same word but the context would indicate woman with a higher social standing then a mere prostitute. (How could a prostitute go to the town council of Jericho and how could she protect the spies sent by Joshua? but an owner of an inn could. Why would two woman argue over a baby, as they did in front of King Solomon, unless they had an asset Solomon was concerned about, i.e. an Inn in his capital, thus both stories, traditionally translated as the term used for the woman as prostitutes should be translated as female innkeeper, even through in later stories that same word is clearly a term for a prostitute).

I bring the story of Female Inn Keepers in the Old Testament to show HOW a term can change its meaning over time. Sometimes radically. "Colored" and "Negro" are example of terms that used to be viewed as "Good Names" but today held in contempt (Negro's two gs cousin was always a derogatory term, even in Colonial days). "Squaw" seems to have follow a similar trail, apparently more of a rejection of calling a woman by any name other then a proper English name for woman. Such ethnic terms for woman are viewed as attack on those woman, in that such woman are NOT woman, but something else, and thus the ethnic term is "derogatory".

[MADem]

62. And that's why one shouldn't use derogatory ethnic terms. Like Redskin...

Unless, of course, the team changes their logo, as I suggested elsewhere in this thread...then they could make it work with no trouble whatsoever.

But squaw, colored and Negro (except in very specific, historical contexts and titles--and never in everyday conversation), those ships have sailed. Those words aren't coming back into favor while I live and breathe, and probably not for long after. Perhaps when the whole concept of "race" is no longer a part of our consciousness and lexicon (save for the concept of the human race), people will be able to joke and laugh in polite environments using those words, but I can't see it happening soon.

[happyslug]

57. You should read your site, "Squaw" meant only "Woman" till 1992.

The controversy increased when Oprah Winfrey invited the Native American activist Suzan Harjo onto her show in 1992. Harjo said on the show that "squaw is an Algonquin Indian word meaning vagina." As a result of these claims, some Native people have taken to spelling the word sq***, or calling it the "s-word" (Bright n.d.). This purported etymology has been widely adopted as the rationale for removing the word from maps, road signs, history books, and other public uses (Adams 2000).

However, according to Ives Goddard, the curator and senior linguist in the anthropology department of the Smithsonian Institution, this statement is not true (Bright n. d.; Goddard 1997). The word was borrowed as early as 1621 from the Massachusett word squa (Cutler 1994; Goddard 1996, 1997), one of many variants of the Proto-Algonquian *e?kwe·wa[4] (Goddard 1997); in those languages it meant simply "young woman." Although Algonquian linguists and historians (e.g. Goddard 1997, Bruchac 1999) have rejected Harjo's proposed etymology, it has been repeated by several journalists (e.g. Oprah Winfrey).
Goddard also writes:

I have no doubt that some speakers of Mohawk sincerely believe that it is from their word ojískwa 'vagina' (though I know that other Mohawks laugh at the whole idea), but the resemblance (if there is one) is entirely accidental. "Vagina" was not a meaning that was ever known to the original users of the word, and although it appears in a college anthology published in 1973 (Random House, 2000), it was not widely known before Suzan Harjo's appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992."

The "Controversy" is recent and appears more to be people who have decided "Squaw" is a bad word.

[MADem]

58. No, it did NOT. Also, there are people posting here who were BORN in and after 1992.

It may seem like last week to you or me, but people born then are adults now.
You need to go back to the citation I provided, and read the entire piece again, paying attention to this paragraph:

In some 19th- and 20th-century texts squaw is used or perceived as derogatory. Most of these uses are not sexual. One author, for example, referred to "the universal 'squaw' - squat, angular, pig-eyed, ragged, wretched, and insect-haunted" (Steele 1883). Squaw also became a derogatory adjective used against some men, in "squaw man," meaning either "a man who does woman's work" (similar to other languages) or "a white man married to an Indian woman and living with her people" (Hodge 1910). (This was a popular literary stereotype, as in The Squaw Man.)

as well as this piece:

Apart from the linguistic debate, the word "squaw" has become offensive to many modern Native Americans because of usage that demeans Native women, ranging from condescending images (e.g., picture postcards depicting "Indian squaw and papoose&quot to racialized epithets (Green 1975). It is similar in tone to the words "Negress" and "Jewess," (Adams 2000) which treat ethnic women as if they were second-class citizens or exotic objects.

and you should also note--as pointed out in the cite--that there's an East/West difference of opinion re: the term. You know, there are vulgarities that are used in UK that are far less offensive there than they are in USA--and vice versa. I wouldn't recommend using those words on both sides of the pond--it could cause problems.

I could give you a great big list of words that were "fine" fifty years ago, or a hundred years ago, but that aren't "fine" now.

Squaw is not a "fine" word. It's why so many sites that use the name have changed it on maps and signage (as documented at the link I offered).

Native peoples are offended--that's the bottom line.

Remember the name of Rick Perry's hunting camp? "Ewwwwwwww, we didn't mean nuthin' bah it...it's trah--dish-shun!!!!" People didn't care about tradition--they found the name of the place offensive.

[LanternWaste]

27. Would you accept or deny a league name along the lines of...

Would you accept or deny a league name along the lines of "North Dallas Darkies"? The "Waco Wetbacks?" If not, what is the objective, precise and relevant difference between those just listed and the pejorative you do indeed, endorse?

I do understand that quite often our desire for the traditional overrides our respect of others , and we'll valiantly attempt to rationalize or minimize these small distempers as non-issues... yet I also believe that mere sentiment of the past is not quite as important or deserving as respect in the here and now; though others may hold a quite different position.

[treestar]

56. Oddly, those names don't sound threatening

There's a sort of backhanded, though racist compliment in that the Indians, Braves or Redskins are worthy foes, like tigers or lions. The team is supposed to sound fierce and tough.

[MADem]

28. Unless they change their logo to a redskin potato, their name is offensive.

How about they change their name to the Fighting Whities, like the NA intramural team? I'm sure they'd even let them use their logo....



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Whites

What is "infantile" is your not understanding how racist and offensive the term "redskin" -- when applied to a person -- is. I can't believe you are that obtuse or dismissive about this matter. It's much ado about something, not nothing.

[BeyondGeography]

18. The name is offensive

And so is Dan Snyder.

[tularetom]

34. Little Danny Snyder is about the biggest asshole owner in pro sports

And that really takes some talent.

But just to be fair why is nobody objecting to the Cleveland Indians? KC Chiefs?

And where to begin in the college realm.

[Floyd_Gondolli]

39. Plenty have

The Indians' logo has been changed after heavy criticism. I'm not sure why anyone would have a problem with Chiefs considering that word has legitimate use (tribes STILL have chiefs) but I'm sure it has probably been the subject of criticism as well.

Elsewhere, Florida State has taken some heat for their use of Indian imagery during their pregame festivities.

A small college near me recently changed their name from the Savages to the Savage Storm.

[n2doc]

35. It's funny how everyone hates Jerry Jones so much

Snyder is 10 times worse. He has totally screwed up a franchise. His hand-picked power-mad coach has done his best to wreck their star player.

[snooper2]

36. We already did for you, they are called the RedScabs

Peel them back and watch em' bleed

[ThomThom]

37. go Cowboys

take that

[bamacrat]

40. They shouldn't have to..

Every mascot is offensive to someone. There are things that actually matter and sports mascots/names are not one of them. If you hate sports in general that's fine, just don't let your quest to be offended for the world ruin the fun for everyone else. There can only be so many animal mascots.

Examples of mascots/names that may offend those who are easily offended.
NFL
Oakland Raiders - Glorify thieves and murderers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - another way to say pirate (thieves and murderers)
Minnesota Vikings - Stereotype Norsemen as overweight bearded drinkers who carry axes and wear horn helmets
Kansas City Chiefs - Chiefs? c'mon how racist is that.

NBA
Boston Celtics - stereotyping Irish people as leprechauns

MLB
Atlanta Braves - how insulting to imply they are brave
Cleveland Indians - no longer have the Indian head but the name alone is so offensive, how dare they acknowledge their existence

NHL
Chicago Blackhawks - no one cares because its hockey

Is it better to ignore Native Americans? That's pretty much what it seems people want. Being offended on their behalf is a little insulting, I'm part Cherokee and Creek, and have no problem with these mascots.

[alp227]

41. Really, you are going to play deflect-and-equate? N/T

[bamacrat]

42. Sure, why not..

still trying to understand why everyone here fiends for offense. We didn't used to be like this. Been here for almost 9 years and we are becoming more and more whiny. Taking offense with everything gets really old and I'm only voicing my displeasure with that. I'm not denying that there is racism in sports/politics/the world, but we should be more outraged by the racism in our laws and justice system not our sports franchises. I knew it would offend some on here, but que sera sera.

[alp227]

43. "why everyone here fiends for offense"

Have you even explored WHY?

Sheesh, why are even PROGRESSIVES playing into the "political correctness" right wing framing?

[bamacrat]

44. There was a thread a few days ago on the difference between LIBERALS and PROGRESSIVES

Progressives are the more "politically correct" types. I do not subscribe to that idea. I am a liberal. I do not claim to be a progressive. I enjoy offensive things. Not those that incite violence, but those things that cause the uptight to cringe.

[Daniel537]

48. +1

This is such a stupid non-issue. People who get offended by everything need to get a life.

[GetTheRightVote]

47. I too am part Native American...

I happen to agree with your last set statements as well.

Also, I am tired of PC going to far that it simply becomes a stupid argument. There are real issues that need to be dealt with and are more pressing that this point in time. You know like the economy and jobs.

[CreekDog]

49. there are Native Americans here that are offended by those team names

are you a white person telling white people who are offended that they shouldn't be and Native Americans who are that they shouldn't be?

how patronizing is that?

[Hugabear]

51. Oh please - 'redskins' is a racist slur

None of the other examples you list include racist slurs.

[scheming daemons]

53. so is "fighting irish"

[Hugabear]

55. Um, no.

"Irish" is not a racist term. Adding the term 'fighting' in front doesn't make it racist either. It's not uncommon for college teams to put the word 'Fighting' in front of their nickname.

False equivalency noted.

[MADem]

63. My favorite team....University of Northern Colorado intramural basketball!

Never went to a single game, but I would have loved to see them play!!!



They were, of course, being quite deliberately ironic, as most of them were native peoples.

[bamacrat]

64. But generalizing an entire ethnicity as drunken brawlers is.

But they are white so i guess it doesn't matter.

[scheming daemons]

66. the name, and especially the logo, are based on an ethnic stereotype

and it is just as offensive.

It stereotypes Irish people as being drunk and short tempered. Look at their freaking logo.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

54. Thanks for the Blackhawks reference. Indeed, no one cares because it's hockey ...

PETA doesn't even whine about the octopi that will be thrown onto the ice.

[bamacrat]

65. Exactly my point of manufactured outrage.

[harmonicon]

45. People pay attention to the NFL? Jesus Christ. (nt)

[Burma Jones]

46. He's detested by so many here on so many levels

I work with a guy whose kids go to the same school as Little Danny's and the other parents reportedly detest him.

the Members of the Synagogue Little Danny belongs to that I know have nothing nice to say about the shrimp.

He is selfishness personified.

Joe Gibbs ended his comeback early because of Little Danny Snyder.

There is a long list of reasons why folks detest Little Danny Snyder, not all of them NFL related.

I switched over to the Ravens years ago, you gotta love an NFL Team named for a Poem, are successful and hail from the great city of Bawlmer. I like the O's too, I only root against them when they play the Nats......

Some years ago, the NBA team here were the Bullets, even longer ago than that, they were the Baltimore Bullets - nicely alliterative. They were changed to the Wizards in response to Gun Violence.......and I guess to be alliterative too.....

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

50. Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Never say never................

[CK_John]

52. "Never" is just the beginning of a settlement.

[kwassa]

59. It can be done: the Washington Bullets became the Washington Wizards.

because Abe Pollin is a mensch, and Snyder is not.

[davidpdx]

60. I agree that they should change their name

It looks like the Atlanta Braves and KC Chiefs have changed their mascots.