You Are Supposed to be Offended

Some background: there is an American football team with a team nickname that has been the target of Social Justice Warriors for a few decades – sometime with more intensity, sometimes with less.  The Washington Redskins – a nickname deemed racist and offensive to Native Americans (well, I don’t know that they were native)…er…American Indians (they aren’t from India)…er…well, you know what I mean.

There has been a big push lately regarding the name – legal battles over the trademark, a push by the city of Washington, DC (the team would like to build a new stadium in the city) to change the name, etc.

Well, guess what?

Nine in 10 Native Americans say they are not offended by the Washington Redskins name, according to a new Washington Post poll that shows how few ordinary Indians have been persuaded by a national movement to change the football team’s moniker.

This result from this most recent poll mirrors a 2004 poll by the Annenberg Public Policy.

Responses to The Post’s questions about the issue were broadly consistent regardless of age, income, education, political party or proximity to reservations.

Seven in ten did not find the word disrespectful; eight in ten said they would not be offended if they were called by this name.

I guess they don’t realize that they are supposed to be offended:

The results — immediately…denounced by prominent Native American leaders — could make it that much harder for anti-name activists to pressure Redskins officials…. Suzan Harjo, the lead plaintiff in the first case challenging the team’s trademark protections, dismissed The Post’s findings.

In fact, it is a who’s who of SJWs who feel the 90% are just plain wrong:

[The movement for a name change has garnered] support from President Obama, 50 Democratic U.S. senators, dozens of sports broadcasters and columnists, several newspaper editorial boards (including The Post’s), a civil rights organization that works closely with the National Football League and tribal leaders throughout Indian Country.

The owner of the team, Daniel Snyder, vows never to change the name – he has been consistent throughout his entire tenure as owner.  As testimony to the religious fervor of those who deem it their business to right the wrongs that are virtually imperceptible to the supposed victim group:

Activists, however, have argued that the billionaire must act if even a small minority of Indians are insulted by the term.

To satisfy this almost imperceptible victim group, the vast majority must, instead, be harmed:

Their responses to The Post poll were unambiguous: Few objected to the name, and some voiced admiration.

But their view doesn’t matter.

The Post interviewed more than two dozen of the survey participant:

“I’m proud of being Native American and of the Redskins,” said Barbara Bruce, a Chippewa teacher who has lived on a North Dakota reservation most of her life. “I’m not ashamed of that at all. I like that name.”

This next part is funny:

Bruce, 70, has for four decades taught her community’s schoolchildren, dozens of whom have gone on to play for the Turtle Mountain Community High School Braves.

They call themselves the Braves!

Some attribute the results of the poll to a low self-esteem within the larger community.  Others see much bigger issues as the main contributors to the problems in the community:

Those interviewed highlighted again and again other challenges to their communities that they consider much more urgent than an NFL team’s name: substandard schools, substance abuse, unemployment.

Conclusion

What goes unsaid and remains unsaid: the treatment of this group by the US military and government over the last two centuries – and especially since the end of the Civil War – ranks right up there with some of the worst colonial episodes in western history. 

Take a poll of Native Americans regarding this – I suspect the results will be damning to those who view America as exceptional.