‘Redskins’ is racist

Concerning the Valley Voices piece “We call ourselves ‘Redskins’,” (May 16): The term “Redskin” was coined by invading European colonizers to dehumanize the original people of this continent. Labeling school and professional sports team mascots with that term does not alter its historically cruel meaning. It is, in fact, racist and dehumanizing no matter the context.

Ms. Hoffmann, the author of the commentary, may very well be a person who would never knowingly entertain racist jokes or use what she considers to be racist appellations. Nevertheless, she is not qualified to judge the offensiveness of that term as she is not authorized to speak on behalf of Native America. I do not know Ms. Hoffmann’s ethnicity, but I would venture to say that she was not brought up in a native community. Only native people are qualified to define that word and only native people can tell the rest of us how it feels to be referred to as “Redskins.”

This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 4:02 AM with the headline "‘Redskins’ is racist."