Eugenia: Team name needs to be changed

The Washington Redskins team name needs to be changed. There is no honor in naming any team, organization or institution “Redskins.” As an American Indian (I’m Navajo), I find it surprising that most Americans know that using the N-word is racial and provokes hate, but cannot say the same thing about using the R-word.

Historically, the R-word was used to define Native Americans. In the 1800s “red-skins” were hunted down and a bounty was placed on their head. Men, women and children, young and old, were hunted like animals. In Minnesota, the going rate of sending a “red-skin to purgatory” was $200. In Denver, after the Sand Creek Massacre, soldiers fashioned their uniforms with the mutilated body parts of “red-skins” (i.e., women’s uterus).

What makes matters worse about the whole issue are those “rituals” that accompany the mascot’s name. Watching fans with streaks of war paint, wearing a traditional bonnet, doing the “war dance” is insulting. These “rituals” perpetuate a misunderstanding of American Indians. There are currently 560-plus federally recognized American Indian tribes in America and we do not all share the same culture.

And about the caricature associated with the name? I know that I, along with many other Native Americans, certainly do not look like the caricatures flashed across national television during game day.