The retired mascot in Wiscasset, Maine, has been revived in a local street. Image from Oregon First
Writer praises leaders of the Penobscot Nation for asking a town on Maine to get rid of a street named after an offensive slur:
When visiting Owl’s Head this past week, I saw that Wiscasset had decided to use a racial slur to describe a local street, “Redskin’s Drive.” As I’m from Virginia, we have watched normally civil friends and neighbors fight for the right to have a football team continue to bear this ugly name. I’m so glad to see Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis and tribal leaders fighting this backward vote by the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen. One of the first books I read was James Fennimore Cooper’s “The Last of the Mohicans.” Cooper also wrote a book titled “Redskins.” In March 2013, Cooper’s hometown in New York, settled by his father, retired the high school’s team name, the “Redskins.” Maine has been following this good example. When I watched TV as a boy, or went to the local movie house, it was cowboys killing savage “redskins.”Get the Story:
John P. Flannery: A question for Wiscasset selectmen: Would you call tribal leaders the ‘R’ word to their faces? (The Bangor Daily News 9/24) Also Today:
Penobscot chief criticizes Wiscasset road name (The Wiscasset Newspaper 9/22)
Maine tribal leaders oppose use of demeaning moniker by Wiscasset, NFL (The Bangor Daily News 9/20)
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