Dear President Garland:
It has been brought to my attention that you are currently
reviewing the use of the nickname "Redskins." Would you like
to take few minutes and read an analysis of such denominations?
On first glance, sports teams named "Redskins," "Chiefs," "Braves,"
"Seminoles," etc. may look as harmless as other sports team desig-
nations. There is a difference, however, that becomes apparent by
placing such namings in an historical context.
On the one hand, it is easy to recognize that American Indians--
alone among other groups oppressed as a matter of racial identity--
have been selected out for the special treatment of sport team
mascot. That is, sports teams under the control of European-
American have not often been named "The New Jersey Negroes," the
"Anaheim Africans," the "Philadelphia Zulus," or the "San Francisco
Chicanos."
On the other hand, it's also easy to recognize that many sports
teams under the control of European Americans have been named after
European peoples, i.e. the Boston Celtics, the New York Knick-
erbockers, the Fighting Irish, the Highlanders, etc.
It is easy to see these sorts of names as honorifics. That is,
Boston--a city in the American U.S. with remembered ties to
Ireland and still with a strong Irish American population--is
the home of the Celtics.
The difference with teams such as the "Cleveland Indians"
however, is that Cleveland was never known as a city with
a strong population of Indians. Indeed, Cleveland is the
largest city in a state--which like any state in the American
United States--depended for its existence on a systematic dis-
placement of Indian people. This displacement was often initi-
ally pursued through self-styled "wars of elimination." After
the guns were laid down, the "elimination" was pursued by
physically expelling Indian people outside the bounds of
Euro-American geo-political bodies. This was the reason that
the only Indians recognized for a long time by the state of
Ohio were the ersatz Indians playing sports.
There is a difference between the Boston Celtics and the
Cleveland Indians. Irish were never targetted for self-
styled wars of elimination in the land known now as Massachusetts.
Irish were never the target of elimination in Indiana, where the
Univeristy of Nortre Dame is home to the Fighting Irish.
The case is otherwise for Indians. States such as Ohio have
literally taken the places of Indians. This was objectionable
to Indians. How would present-day Ohioans feel if people from
another shore came and took away their places? How would pre-
sent day Ohioans feel if they became the target of self-styled
wars of elimination? How would present-day Ohioans feel if, after
these intense periods of invasion and self-styled wars of extermi-
nation, they then had to witness the invaders (and their sons and
daughters) symbolically assuming the identity of Ohioans on the
sports field?
Oheo is Iroquois for beautiful. This is a sort of
borrowing that is different from calling your sports teams the
Redskins. No peoples were called Ohioans before you. But
people were called the Redskins. And the Redskins were often
literally skinned. Body parts were displayed as trophies. It is hard
to imagine or remember the extent of the misery and injuries
of those times.
Would you please do everything in your power to discontinue the
use of Redskin as the name and symbol of sports teams at your
institution?
Yours Sincerely,
Andrew M. Viles
1541 Taft
Eugene, OR 97402