Redskin's Argumentative Essay

As people become more aware of their ethnic background, many things we take as normal life begin to be rather offensive. One of the biggest issues for native americans is the football team for Washington DC, the Redskins. Originally the Boston Braves, in 1933 they changed their name to the Washington Redskins despite it’s head coach ,‘Lone Star’ Dietz, being native american as well of some of the players. In 1936 the team relocated to Washington DC. They never changed the name from the Redskins despite it being out of date. The Washington Redskin should change their team mascot and name because, the term ‘redskin’ is a racial slur, a race should not be a team mascot and using the name redskin as a mascot encourages racism.
The term ‘redskin’ is a racial slur against native americans made by american settlers. There are many interpretations of the word and it’s origins. Some suspect that it was just red body paint made from red okra mixed with bear grease to make it a bug deterrent and a natural sunscreen (Morris). The problem there is that okra came to America via the slave trade so they couldn’t …show more content…
The purpose of a mascot is to show that a school or team has the characteristics of its said mascot. For example a team with a lion as a mascot says that the players are brave or leaders. That’s why you never see a school with their mascots as the bunnies. With that being said what does a mascot of a Redskins say about its players? What does it say about native americans? One of the popular representations of native americans in old western movies is that the indians were always savage warriors, uncaring, and brutal. Is that the kind of message that the owners want to communicate to fans and native americans themselves? Also the way that they are depicted in the pictures is very stereotypical, their hair braided with feathers in it and a high bridged nose. You can see this the Cleveland Indians and the chicago