Recently, the U.S. Patent office cancelled six trademark rights belonging to the Redskins football team, saying they are offensive to Native Americans. A June 19 article, “Trademark board rules against Redskins name,” stated that the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board researched if the term “Redskins” was considered disparaging at the time the trademarks were issued between 1967 and 1990. They concluded that the usage of “Redskins” as a term for Native Americans had dropped off beginning in the 1960s.
A book passed on to me titled “Indian Names Facts and Games for Campfire Girls, written” by Florence M. Poast in 1917, should have been part of the research. Poast writes “Applied to the Indians by some white people are a number of nicknames which should never be used in any way. It is disrespectful and unrefined to speak of an Indian man as ‘a big buck’ or his wife as a ‘squaw’ and the term ‘redskins’ should also be forgotten.” (In 1917, “Native American” had not yet replaced “Indian” in reference to our indigenous people.)
It is nearly 100 years since this was written and we’re still struggling to get it right.
My husband and I are avid fans of the team, but a change is long overdue. Hopefully, the team owner, players and fans will lead by example in shedding this mark of disrespect, thereby encouraging schools throughout the nation who still use inappropriate names/symbols for their teams to also make it right.
