I have to admit, I’m one of the hardest people to offend. I’m an observer by nature, if I don’t like what I see I move on, turn the other cheek, change the channel, or excuse myself from the situation. I don’t get involved in causes. Growing up, my dad always taught me not to worry about was going on our neighbor’s yard and our neighbor shouldn’t worry about what was going on in ours.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), obviously has a different idea about this crazy little world that we live in. Even though Cantwell represents those of us who live here in the great State of Washington, she has made it her own personal crusade to try to force the National Football League’s Washington Redskins to change their name. She finds the name “Redskins’’ offensive.
Again, I qualify my views on this subject by recognizing that very little offends me. I’m a middle-aged white male, I’m not sure I could find something to be offended about if I tried. That said, Cantwell’s position baffles me for many reasons. First of all, voters in our state sent her to Washington, D.C., to represent us. Why is she spending so much time and energy fighting an NFL team some 3,000 miles away when there are many sports teams in her own state with the same, or similar, team names?
In Vancouver, the athletic teams at Columbia River High School have long been known as the Chieftains. Up I-5, the Toledo High School sports teams are known as the Indians. Wellpinit High School, located in Eastern Washington, shares the same team name as Washington’s NFL team, the Redskins.
Port Townsend High School is one of the oldest in Washington State, having graduated its first class in 1891. Not too long ago, students at Port Townsend High School must have made Sen. Cantwell very pleased by voting to replace their team name of Redskins with Redhawks.
The Wellpinit School District serves students on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The district’s student body is 67 percent Native American. Recently, members of the Wellpinit School Board met to discuss the issue of the name of the district’s athletic teams. Those board members reaffirmed support for the Redskins name. It seems the people who have lived in Wellpinit are proud of the mascot that has reportedly been a part of their community since 1907.
I haven’t found any word on how Cantwell feels about the Wellpinit board members’ decision. I must admit, it’s largely because I really don’t care how a white, liberal, middle-aged politician feels about what’s offensive to Native Americans. I’m more concerned about what Native Americans find offensive to Native Americans.
James Williams, a Wellpinit school board member, said the community members he talked to didn’t want to see their team’s name changed.
“It’s something they have been brought up with all their life, and you know I don’t think they look at it being very derogatory,’’ Williams told Spokane’s KXLY.com.
Here’s my point. I don’t need Maria Cantwell to tell me what I should be offended by. And, I don’t think you need her to tell you what you should be offended by. Far too often in our society, it’s the politicians and media telling people how they should feel. That dynamic creates a culture that teaches us that there must be something wrong with us if we’re not offended by something, as a result I strongly believe that people act offended, when they’re actually not, either out of obligation or purely to gain social acceptance.
I’m quite certain that fans of the Washington Redskins, Wellpinit Redskins, Columbia River Chieftains, Toledo Indians and even the former Port Townsend Redskins, aren’t attempting to disparage or disrespect Native Americans. The same goes for fans of Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians and the NCAA’s Florida State Seminoles.
If Native Americans or any other segment of our society are truly being offended, oppressed, or discriminated against, then it should be dealt with aggressively. Count me in when it comes time for those battles. But, I agree with the popular notion that when claims of discrimination are made when it really doesn’t exist, it only weakens the fight when it is real.
Ken Vance
Editor
