H.T.T.R.I.P.: Hail to the Red Tails!

In honor of this historic occasion where the owner of the Washington Redskins has FINALLY yielded to the outcry of many across this country regarding the offensive name of this franchise (at the behest of his team’s sponsors), I am re-posting a few entries of written that speak to my stance on the name. By the way, these three entries will be featured in my next book: On My Post: Recollections of a Social Media Maverick due out at the end of the summer along with my wife and two children’s books (yes – we’re dropping four books individually)!

I was born in the Maryland-DC area and grew up a Washington ‘Skins fan (unfortunately!) so 1) it’s within my birthright to critique this team and 2) this is a personal victory for me:

“Red Face, Black Skin” (2010)

Crying Wolf Tickets

The real Natives of
The U.S. aren’t crying wolf
About racial slurs.

Redskins fans ought to be embarrassed. But it’s not the loss to a newly knighted coach of a dysfunctional Vikings team. It’s not even about how badly the Redskins took a beating from the Eagles – their conference rivals. For the sake of holding on to a familiar history, we have perpetuated a racial slur against Native Americans. And since I grew up in the DMV (the DC/Maryland/Virginia area) as a go-hard fan of the Redskins, I have the right to particularly call out my African-American peers who have long supported the ‘Skins as well.

When I was younger, I remember scoffing at a Native American group when they demanded the team to change its name. Yet as I’ve grown older and become more culturally aware, I understand their concerns. It all crystallized for me very recently after I wrote the poetitorial entitled: Calling a Spade a Spade: A Reneger of Black Culture.

Within this entry, I referenced a Halloween party at Northwestern University where some White students showed up in blackface. The article also identified an issue that exists deep within American culture where inanimate objects or mascots are named after Native American tribes.

Juxtaposed against a few articles that exist online that implicate an intramural team that calls themselves The N***ers, the blind eye that I’d turned towards my favorite hometown NFL team had its cataracts of hypocrisy peeled off. And it hurt!

As outraged as any African-American has the right to be about the possibility or suggestion of so vile a name existing; I could now clearly see and feel the weight of every slight that derogatory names have contributed, innocently incidental and otherwise, in besmirching Native American history.

The Belittled Injun That Should

Though the label is
Festive, Natives get restless
Tracking red-skinned race.

As quickly as the Black student union at Northwestern University probably rallied together against this insult, I wonder how many overlooked the person(s) dressed in ceremonial “Injun” garb and war makeup as they toted a tomahawk and spoke broken English between war cries? How many of us have been dressed up or will dress up our children in similar outfits that ultimately trivialize an entire culture of similarly persecuted people? It’s hypocritical and it’s wrong.

Customized Costumes
a.k.a.
Native American Outfitters

Frowns upon blackface
Should be retrofitted on
Native restlessness.

So the next time the natives get restless over changing the name of the Redskins, I’m going to make sure mine and every name of the Redskins lovin’ Black faces I know are on that petition. Having our professional basketball team being renamed from the Washington Bullets to the Wizards is bad enough when guns and the KKK have killed far too many of my own people. So when a people such as Native Americans who have suffered injustice in America cry out, the trail of tears should streak down my face as well.

Black Skin, Red Face

“Redskins” fans outraged
Over Blackface should be red
In the face, themselves.

“Calling a Spade a Spade: A Reneger of Black Culture” (2010)

A Renegade Reneger

Native Sons should
renege like Richard on prior
use of the N-word.

I recently had a discussion with a concerned friend of mine regarding her son. As a married, African-American mother raising her son in a predominately Caucasian school and community, she expressed a concern regarding him losing an appreciation for his heritage as he assimilates into an entirely different world from the one she grew up in.

While Hip-Hop serves as a common denominator of different cultures, it also undermines racial issues that should not be overlooked. I’m not in favor of reminiscing over the “good ol’ days” of segregation nor am I soliciting that we remember grievances of slavery an attempt to keep a fresh grudge. What does need to happen however, is to respect certain boundaries of racially sensitive subject matter.

Case in point. My friend’s son was on Facebook recently and witnessed his White friends calling one another “n*gga” on a wall post. This recalled to mind the media frenzy that ensued when Nas was set to release a new album tentatively titled “N***er” a few years ago.

If Nas had openly referenced this slanderous epithet in such a manner, it would’ve acted as a double-edged sword. While it could have potentially taken away more power from the word, it could also have belittled the history of it to the point where it actually permeated further into popular culture. I once read that the best way to objectify an entire people is to label an inanimate object by said people’s name. Cherokee. Seminoles. Pontiac. Blackhawks (sorry, Chicago!). REDSKINS (sorry, DC!).

Most of us are old enough to recognize the Native American tribes and names from the latter paragraph but there are youth today who have come to recognize them more so for the vehicles and sports mascots that bear their names. Such labels effectively trivialize the entire history of a population of human beings. I don’t mean to infer that “n***er” is a name that should be associated to African-Americans; but we were made to answer to it within the course of American history. America doesn’t need to forget that ugly part of its past lest it’ll become bound to repeat it.

We are living in a time where we are witnessing such malicious repetition. Although somewhat unsubstantiated, I remember reading about either an intramural basketball team or a minor league “professional” baseball team going by the name “the N***ers.” Can you imagine what the mascot would’ve looked like?!! If that’s a little too hard to believe, try grounding your belief system in the hallowed grounds of Northwestern University where some students showed up to a Halloween party last year in black face.

I’m glad that Nas’ album title never saw the light of day but can you imagine the damage it could’ve done to label a CD “N***er”? As African-Americans, we have to be more socially astute in how we challenge our cultural counterparts. So if you want to subtly remind America about its history of racial inequality while reclaiming a sense of power, try the following. If someone asks you what you’re dressing up as for Halloween, tell them you’re going as Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Anyone offering anything cruder than that, if I may call a spade a spade, is a reneger of Black culture.

Scalping Redskins Caps

Redskins fans should have
Their thinking caps peeled back to
Hawk old ways of thought.

A FAITH-BASED BONUS: “To Hail with Tradition” (2013)

As the NFL season approaches and Redskins players begin their strength conditioning for training camp; fans and owners apparently need their own version of sensitivity training to strengthen the core of their moral values. This was made evident by a USAToday poll taken earlier this week which asked the question: Should the Redskins change their name? Dan Snyder, the owner of the franchise that I grew up rooting for, denounced such a change with a statement that they would NEVER change the name even though it’s been decried with recent scrutiny as offensive to Native Americans.

The poll revealed that the majority of fans overwhelmingly agree with Mr. Snyder – stating that it’s a tradition that shouldn’t be broken. Certain articles I’ve read reveal that some Native Americans aren’t even offended by the football team’s moniker. I’ve already written a blog about the offensive nature of this name which voices my support of changing it (though admittedly, I’m not sold on the Red Tails suggestion which pays homage to the Tuskegee Airmen) – so I will not rehash that here.

The Offensive Redskins

Though not known for
offense in the pass, ‘Redskins’ have
an offensive past.

There is, however, an interesting parallel in the fans and Dan’s reaction that echoes sentiments of church folk that’s worth exploring:

Offensive Lines: When Tight Ends Justify the Mean Green

Dan and Redskins fans
Are Stans: too fanatic to
Stand for drawing lines.

Church folk LOVE tradition the way Dan Snyder loves money and Stan (the fan) loves Eminem… to a fault. Many things have become, in the truest sense of the word, “religion” in the body of Christ because we have gotten used to a certain thing. Even when a truth is revealed through His Word and/or prophets, it tends to be rejected. After all, “synagogue folk” beheaded John the Baptist for His Gospel message and many of the prophets back in the day were murdered. Paul, Luke AND Jesus confirmed that themselves:

“Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.” – Matthew 23:31

“Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.” – Luke 11:47

“Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.” – Romans 11:3

“Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men…” – 1 Thessalonians 2:15

Why were they killed?!! Because they challenged the status quo of tradition in favor of adhering to the Word of the Lord (made flesh in Jesus’ time of visitation) as revealed to them in real time:

Good Friday to “Sunrise Service” on Easter Sunday doesn’t equal three days and three nights as Jesus prophesied (Matthew 12:40). Will you renew your mind on this holiest of days?