I wonder if Indians would be ok? I think they should bring back the spear for the helmets, always like it
I have always had an interest in the Native American Plains cultures, just a sidebar of research my whole life and have made a few friends through the years from the various nations. Being a Texan like you, I have spoken to two friends here in the state from the two major tribes that once dictated the native power of this state, the Lipan Apache and mighty Comanche. First off though, when is this going to change? Those names. Those are not their names. 'Apache' amounts to enemy in Zuni and Comanche is basically enemy in Ute, these are derogatory names and only the Lakota seem to get carte blanche by no longer being called Sioux. The Lakota also have this ongoing large sculpture of Crazy Horse (that's derogatory too, since it does not mean 'a crazy horse' but actually translates to 'one who startles his enemies horses when he shows up for battle) which is great but it's on Crow land which are the actual tribe the Lakota invaded on as they did with the Mandan and Arikara (which the land really is their ancestral grounds with the Black Hills being the Crow) , and once talked to a Crow on the tribal their tribal council and he does not like that sculpture one bit. The Apache are really the Nde and the Comanche are the Numunuu. See, how far down the rabbit hole does one choose to go?
Well, the Apache I know only sees a possible problem with the name but not the logo but then again he's a Cowboy fan laughing his ass off at this conflict for the Washington franchise, he's a football fan and sees 'the Redskins' as a football team just like one does not think of 'bugs' when you hear The Beatles. The Comanche friend does not want anything changed, the Comanche nation were warriors to the hilt and likes the whole ticked off use of 'redskins' as a passionate sign of hate one reserves for a worthy enemy. There is a old plains Amerindian (that is the official scholarly term now by the way for Native American) proverb that says "choose your enemies well because they define your significance"
You want to talk about prejudice, I have tried to get my Comanche friend to talk to my Apache friend, since they both take a noble interest outside of their everyday life to educate people on the history of their tribes, and they refuse or rather the Lipan Apache does. The reason is that those tribes were rival bitter enemies back in the day with the Comanche basically practicing genocide on the Apache. The Lipan Apache even draws trust lines between his own tribe because when the Comanche drove them out of their original territory, the Lipan fractured into basically three groups, one that dug in in South Central Texas, one that went farther South into Mexico and then one which sought sanctuary with the Mescalero Apache in New Mexico and they now are constantly bickering on who represents their nation
Again, I can totally understand the issues with the name 'Redskins' but hope the franchise preserves a name which still shows homage to Native Americans
