Washington Football Team

For 25 years I lived in Northern Virginia. That means I supported the Washington Redskins as my home town football team. I’m still close by in Maryland and follow the team, but I no longer support them. This is for two reasons; I don’t think Daniel Snyder is a good owner and I’m mature enough to realize the team name is racist. This isn’t an article about Daniel Snyder though, so I’ll skip over that. This is about the team name. Many people don’t view it as racist or demeaning. Those people are wrong. Some view the name as representing pride or tradition. Those people are also wrong. I didn’t always think of the team name as being bad. For most of my life I didn’t think about the team name at all. Once you reach a certain intelligence level though, you should be able to comprehend why the term “Redskin” is bad. As a society we should not be calling different ethnicities by the color of their skin. Walk around a crowded area and call out, “Hey, black skin”, “Hey, yellow skin”, “Hey, brown skin”, etc. Gauge people’s reactions. See what kind of looks you receive. If you are not willing to engage in this exercise, ask yourself why. It should become apparent that merely identifying people by the color of their skin is wrong. That is why I will not support my home town Washington Football Team until the name is changed.