Name Changes

[Kara Briggs]

Dear Folks, That was a really thoughtful discussion about sywash.
Thanks especially for sharing your family memories.
My one point is that intent is everything, and when we run across these
disparaging words history isn't enough of a reason to forgive them. To
slightly open a related linguistic can of worms, but only for reference; the
term redskin first showed up in the Oxford dictionary in 1699 and was
acknowledged then as derogatory to the indigenous peoples of North America.
  It's not that people meant the term any more kindly at that time. It was
probably much worse historically.
But the tide has turned and in many ways sensitivity is truly reaching
beyond the Native American community into the mainstream consciousness and
law.
Three U.S. newspapers, The Oregonian in Portland, the Minneapolis Star
Tribune and The Salt Lake Tribune decided in the early to mid-1990s to stop
printing Indian mascot sports team names. So sports writers write around it
by awkwardly saying "the Washington, D.C., football team" and such.
Eight Native artists, political leaders, and writers sued the Washington
team owners in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In 1998 a panel of
three Patent and Trademark judges decided to deny the team's trademark when
it next comes up for renewal in a few years.
The judges, none of them Native American, ruled that the "R-word" violates
United States trademark law by being - in the language of the law -
scandalous, derogatory and deprecating of a racial group.
Now this ruling doesn't mean the team has to change its name, it just takes
the wind out of the team owners' best argument.
Team owners had previously argued that they would lose money if they changed
the name. This ruling just means that the team will no longer  have the
exclusive merchandising right to the name.
In other words, they're going to lose money even if they don't change it.
My offer is this, I have a few buttons that read, Redskins, and the word is
crossed out. One of the Native leaders in the suit gave them to me.
If some of you on the Chinook Listserv would like one, send me your whole
mailing address and I will snail mail one to you.
Best wishes, Kara


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