Remove ‘Redskin’ from lexicon

The Valley Voices column, “We call ourselves Redskins,” (May 16) was another sad example of how white privilege continues to operate in our country.

Linell Hoffman is all bent out of shape because her old high school might one day have to give up its racist mascot. It is hard to stir up much sympathy given her total lack of sensitivity to the people who have suffered nothing but misery since her ancestors and mine landed on our shores and proceeded to take what wasn’t theirs to take.

All one need do to see the weakness of her position is substitute the “N” word for “Redskin” each time she uses it. Nobody would stand for that today. However, the real punchline is when she quotes the superintendent as saying “We don’t call those offended by the term Redskins, Redskins.” Well, why the heck not? If it is such a fine and dandy descriptor, why not use it whenever one comes upon a “Native Indian” (her strange phrase)?

Educated people know the word “Redskin” needs to be removed from our lexicon. It makes me wonder what passes for education in Chowchilla.

This story was originally published May 20, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Remove ‘Redskin’ from lexicon."