During the early days of watching the team, I never really thought about the name Redskins. While I was very aware of the N-word and its effect on me, I never thought about what effect the word redskins possibly had on Native Americans. I attribute my lack of knowledge to not having a more global view of the world. Sometimes our community thinking doesn’t cause us to look outside of it. I watched a lot of westerns growing up and obviously heard the term a lot yet didn’t understand the offensive nature of the word.

Certainly America’s conscious has been tweaked and revamped; thus, our familiarity with diverse people and languages has increased. In higher education for example, colleges such as St. John’s University (New York) and Miami University of Ohio changed their nicknames out of respect for Native Americans. St. John’s University is now called the Red Storm and Miami University of Ohio is now called the Red Hawks. Some might ask about the Florida State University Seminoles. From all reports, the Seminole Tribe of Florida—said to be the only tribe never to sign a formal peace treaty with the United States—is proud of the association with the athletic teams and their “Unconquered” motto.

Over the years, a segment of the Native American community has come out against the term redskins being used as the moniker for the Washington football team. They say it defames and humiliates Native Americans. The current owner, Daniel Snyder, says that he has met with a significant number of Native Americans and that they approve of the name.