Use of Native American Imagery in Sports

[mustache ride]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

the white man

Stop using that phrase

[Zarley]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

If Cleveland wanted to be accurate they'd use something like this as their image.



I wonder how the original Indians from India feel about this topic.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by HOOT

I wonder how many black students decline North Carolina because of their team name.

Except it's not a racial name.

from wiki

In its early years as a colony, North Carolina settlements became an important source of the naval stores, tar, pitch, and turpentine, especially for the British navy. Tar and pitch were largely used to paint the bottom of wooden British ships both to seal the ship and to prevent shipworms from damaging the hull.[4]
At one time, an estimated 100,000 barrels (16,000 m3) of tar and pitch were shipped annually to England.[1] After 1824, North Carolina became the leader in the United States for naval stores.[5] By the Civil War, North Carolina had more than 1600 turpentine distilleries, and two thirds of all turpentine in the United States came from North Carolina and one-half from the counties of Bladen and New Hanover.[5]
Historians Hugh Lefler and Albert Newsome claim in North Carolina: the History of a Southern State (3rd edition, 1973) that North Carolina led the world in production of naval stores from about 1720 to 1870.[6]
At the time, tar was created by piling up pine logs and burning them until hot oil seeped out from a canal. The vast production of tar from North Carolina led many, including Walt Whitman, to give the derisive nickname of "Tarboilers" to the residents of North Carolina.[1] North Carolina was nicknamed the "Tar and Turpentine State" because of this industry.[1]
Somehow, these terms evolved until the nickname Tar Heel was used to refer to residents of North Carolina and gained prominence during the American Civil War. During this time, the nickname Tar Heel was a pejorative, but starting around 1865, the term began to be used as a source of pride.[1]
In 1893, the students of the University of North Carolina founded a newspaper and christened it The Tar Heel, which was later renamed The Daily Tar Heel.[1] By the early 1900s the term was embraced by many as a non-derisive term for North Carolinians by those from inside and outside the state of North Carolina.[1]

[Red Slinger]

A new legal challenge to the "Redskins" name is being brought about by a group of Native Americans.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ins-trademark/

[Buster]

I haven't read this thread at all.

But as a proud gay man*, I am thoroughly offended by the name of Calgary's NHL franchise.










*not really.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Buster

I haven't read this thread at all.

But as a proud gay man*, I am thoroughly offended by the name of Calgary's NHL franchise.










*not really.

I don't relate the Flames name to gay connotations although I guess some do but the Redskins name is unmistakable and derogatory. Now if someone used a derogatory gay name for a sports franchise you'd have an argument.

[To Be Quite Honest]

Originally Posted by valo403

Why stop 50 years ago? 150 years ago no one complained that women and minorities couldn't vote. Why should that have changed?

No one complained that the poor and people without land title could vote. Voting was a right of the rich and entitled. The poor wasn't just minorities and women.

/ semantic history lesson

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by Itse

So where's your line there? Which if of those are unacceptable?

when it comes down to political correctness, where the line is drawn strongly correlates with the number of butt-hurt people in question.

once the butt-hurtness reaches its critical mass, white armors are polished, high horses are saddled and lines are drawn

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by Flame Of Liberty

when it comes down to political correctness, where the line is drawn strongly correlates with the number of butt-hurt people in question.

once the butt-hurtness reaches its critical mass, white armors are polished, high horses are saddled and lines are drawn

Cool. So anything goes then?

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

Except it's not a racial name.

from wiki

During my stint in NC, this seemed to be the accepted origin

But when, beyond doubt, did the term Tar Heel begin to be applied to North Carolinians? Clearly during the Civil War, in the third volume of Webster Clark's "Histories of the Several Regiments from North Carolina in the Great War, 1861-1865," published in 1901, James M. Ray of Asheville records two incidents in 1863 that suggest the nickname's original application.

In a fierce battle in Virginia, where their supportive column was driven from the field, North Carolina troops stood alone and fought successfully. The victorious troops were asked in a condescending tone by some Virginians who had retreated, "Any more tar down in the Old North State, boys?" The response came quickly: "No: not a bit; old Jeff's bought it all up." "Is that so? What is he going to do with it?" the Virginians asked. "He is going to put it on your heels to make you stick better in the next fight."

http://www.mrtarheel.com/tarheelorigin.html

[Flames in 07]

I'm pretty offended by the name of Montreal's hockey team.

EDIT: Come to think about it, I have some friends who are quite offended by Tri-Cities team as well.

How ignorant can these teams be?

[burn_baby_burn]

Late to the debate here. Sorry if anyone has already posted this.

SI did a poll, or did an article on the results of a poll, about this very topic a few years back. Here is the article.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...402/index.html

For more than 30 years the debate has been raging over whether names such as Redskins, Braves, Chiefs and Indians honor or defile Native Americans, whether clownish figures like the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo have any place in today's racially sensitive climate and whether the sight of thousands of non-Native Americans doing the tomahawk chop at Atlanta's Turner Field is mindless fun or mass bigotry. It's an argument that, because it mixes mere sports with the sensitivities of a people who were nearly exterminated, seems both trivial and profound -- and it's further complicated by the fact that for three out of four Native Americans, even a nickname such as Redskins, which many whites consider racist, isn't objectionable.

[North East Goon]

How do we know the Washington Franchise isnt refferring to myself after a few hours on the beach?

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

How do we know the Washington Franchise isnt refferring to myself after a few hours on the beach?

Probably the logo.

[OffsideSpecialist]

Apparently we are getting a professional basketball team in Ottawa that was going to be named the Tomahawks. There was apparently so much backlash in the same day that they went back to the drawing board and are coming up with a new name. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they did that for attention, because I'm certain nobody would have even realized we were getting a basketball team otherwise.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by OffsideSpecialist

Apparently we are getting a professional basketball team in Ottawa that was going to be named the Tomahawks. There was apparently so much backlash in the same day that they went back to the drawing board and are coming up with a new name. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they did that for attention, because I'm certain nobody would have even realized we were getting a basketball team otherwise.

Smart PR move. Is Tomahawk a tribe, or a tool used by aboriginals?

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

Smart PR move. Is Tomahawk a tribe, or a tool used by aboriginals?

Change it to War Hammers

[FlamesAddiction]

The should change the Redskins to the Whiteskins. That would solve the problem.

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

The should change the Redskins to the Whiteskins. That would solve the problem.

or like the movie industry would have the Natives say in vintage Westerns "Pale Skins"
We are proud to introduce the 2013 Washington Paleskins

[Sakari]

I'm pretty sure "Indian" comes from the word "Indigenous". Not "terrible people nobody likes". Aren't there more important issues to worry about? Like psychotic Koreans with nuclear arms? Cancer? AIDS? Bullying?