Redskins nickname: tradition or racial slur?

For several weeks before Sunday’s Vikings-Redskins’ game, The Chronicle received e-mails from organizations touting their plans to rally in the Twin Cities to protest the use of “Redskins” as a team name.
Our gut reaction was that this was another attempt at making society overly “politically correct,” or “PC” as the abbreviation goes, to cater to the hypersensitivity of special interest groups.
But as we read coverage of the rally and listened to “sound bites” on television, we decided to look more carefully at the issue.
Here are a couple of things we learned: there are claims that the term “redskin” may have actually been coined by Native Americans themselves as a way to distinguish the difference between them and the European settlers, who were referred to as “white skins.” But the reverse also has been stated: that the settlers created the phrase.
There are also claims that the team adopted the name in honor of one of its first coaches, William “Lone Star” Dietz, a Native American. And, it also has been stated that the team adopted the name “Redskins” to distinguish itself from its partner baseball team, the Boston Braves (before the team moved to Washington).
Regardless of the source of the team’s name, we have no doubt it was adopted with the intention of embodying the best attributes of our country’s Native Americans, their nobility and courage.
And we have no doubt that the fans who don feathered headresses, put on war paint and cheer on their ’Skins, have no intention of offending anyone. They are just supporting their team.
But the reality is, the term “redskin” has over the decades and centuries become a racially derogatory term. Unlike “Braves” or “Raiders,” it is reflective of skin color, not cultural attributes.
The owner of the Washington team has vowed to preserve his team’s tradition, name and heritage.
As we waded through the mounds of reading material surrounding the controversy, one opinion caught our attention. It posed what may well be the defining question as to what is morally correct compared to what is politically correct.
And that question is: would you use the term “redskins” in talking about or to a Native American?
If it’s not a term we would use in our everyday conversations, then perhaps it should not be used as the name of a national sports team.