Finally! On May 28 the Tribune reported that the Washington Redskins are being sued by a group of American Indians who claim that the Redskin trademark is a racial slur (Sports). For this fan of sports and civil rights, it’s about time.
As the District of Columbia remains our capital and political center, it also remains our most blatant symbol of division and ethnocentrism. How can our country’s capital city retain such a pejorative and insulting nickname? It would be unheard of if the team used an ethnic slur associated with African-Americans, Latinos, the Irish or Jews (to name a few). Then why with American Indians? It’s finally time for the Redskins and the rest of the sports world to discontinue their use of American Indians as mascots. Not only does the continual use of such symbols reek of insensitivity and divisiveness but it belies the very reason for mascots in the first place.
The central purpose of any mascot, from the Chicken to Bennie the Bull to the defunct Ribbie and Rhubarb, is to unite the fan base. And in this case, I see more division than union.
