Lanky Livingston
Guest
The issue I had with Greenberg's comments was his emphatic declaration that 'Redskins' is a racist and offensive term and that 'cannot be argued' (that is an exact or near exact quote).
All the while continuing to use the term himself on a national radio program.
And this is why I've given up on the conversation. The people on the other side aren't interested in discussion - they've made up their mind and it's their way or it's the 'wrong' way.
Which is why when this conversation came up with my buddy and his girlfriend when I was on vacation, both of whom think the name should be changed immediately, I responded by saying "Good, I'm glad its racist and it offends you."
Caught them off guard and ended the conversation
I think the problem is like everything else in our country right now - neither side is willing to sit down and have a discussion. One side insists its racist, the other side insists its not. You can't point to one side or the other and claim fault; in reality, there is no way to sit down with 5.2M Native Americans and ask each one whether or not they find the name offensive, and even if you could, the fact that you have to ask answers the question a little bit already, does it not?
So let's have a discussion.
I've heard and read enough from actual Native Americans (the ones who should matter in this discussion, no?) that it (and other sports monikers and mascots) are offensive, to formulate an opinion. That doesn't mean if I type the team name or if I wear a jersey I'm some huge hypocrite, because I believe that the pro-name has a point as well; context matters. One of CounterTrey's favorites that always resonates with me, is that there are high schools with the Redskins mascot (at least one I know of) - I don't see any historically black colleges with teams named the Sambos or anything like that, so that definitely strikes a chord.
Before I left on my vacation I was going to start a poll, but after reading some of the responses in this thread, it probably wouldn't be a great idea. But what exactly would it take for anyone on the pro-name side to switch sides? I've asked this question before, but no one really responded. If there isn't anything that would convince you the name is racist, then perhaps its you who are not open to discussion.
For the record, I'm firmly in the "I don't know" camp. It bothers me that it might be offensive, and it also bothers me that we are going down a very PC road, and the Skins might just be another victim.