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I work with several tribal counselors, relatives of a tribal chief, and people that work at the walk-in center. They refer to themselves by their specific tribe, but as a general term...Indian. They also refer to themselves using a common Canadian descriptor..."first people".
During a multicultural presentation a few years back a young fresh faced masters student nervously asked one of the panel members "I dont want to be inappropriate...but...Im not sure...what to call you..." His response...well...I prefer 'Joe'....
I'll admit, when I attended NNALEA two years ago I was surprised how many of the individuals used the word Indian. You grow up for so long being told "offensive, offensive, offensive" and then suddenly see those that its supposed to be "offensive against" using it and it just kind of makes you blink your eyes and wonder who really is the individuals pushing these things sometimes.
Living in Washington, the ridiculous faux outrage over this by those bleeding hearts in the media who cry every night because they couldn't make it writing about politics and got stuck in sports drives me nuts. It drives me nuts because it's nothing but a "Feel good" cause that they can clap themselves on the back for and act like they're doing some great, good deed while being horribly ignorant of reality. If Mike Wise or Jay Reed wants to help raise awareness to the plight of Native American's in this nation why don't they focus some of their time on the horrible conditions in many reservations? The ASTONISHINGLY high percentage of young women that are raped on reservations? The prevalence of child AND elder abuse? The massive, widespread, devastating amounts of unemployment within the population? But no...those would be tough, those would be things that would ACTUALLY help native Americans, they need to focus on a name of a football team that doesn't invoke hateful views or thoughts towards native americans and will cause ZERO change in the general lives of the majority of them.
It's idiotic, disgusting, politically correct, make myself feel good because I'm fighting "for the cause" hollow activism.
The funniest thing is Wise likes to bitch and moan about the "caricature" of native americans the Redskins supposedly cause to have (never mind that the official things that were often referenced...a mascot, the band with headdress, etc is gone) and yet if you asked him if he thinks the name "Buffalo Bills" is ALSO offensive he'd look at you like a bloody fool. Buffalo Bill Cody, who the team is named after, was one of the biggest individuals responsible for ingraining the notion of the feathered and painted warrior savage as the last threat against civilization into the American psyche. Not to mention his hand in the demolishing of the American Buffalo population with his own, and popularizing the notion, of extensive wasteful hunts of them. Activism without thought is ignorance.