Why “redskins” is not an acceptable team name.
TW: slurs
But like, I want to ad that Redskin is not a comparable phrase to “Pale Face” even when used in this instance. Like, what is insulting to the White dude in the picture? Being reminded of the shitty history of Colonization and literal land theft? Okay, that may make people uncomfortable (and good) but it’s not the same.
Redskin recalls the time when the government used to pay money for the scalps of our Ancestors. They paid top dollar for male scalps and a little less for women and children. Lots of people think the terminology of Red People and Redskin are the same and interchangeable but they’re not. Redskin is a term that specifically grew out of the murder of NDN people, their bloody scalps were called “redskins.”
THAT is why redskin is an unacceptable term, not because it’s appropriative of any of our cultures and people are trying to “honour” us. It’s a celebration of genocidal policies that is DOUBLY fucked up when people try to say they are honouring our heritage. Usually without realizing it, they are telling us our heritage is getting murdered by the government.
(via yashkaboom)