Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should have done his homework on the origin
of the word ?Redskin' before nixing a bill that would ban the use of
the offensive name on five school campuses in California. His
reasoning, that "Decisions regarding athletic team names, nicknames or
mascots should be retained at the local level" -- doesn't address the
very real issue of racism involved here. We're all in support of local
control -- but this is not a local control issue -- it's an issue of
prejudice. Since it doesn't look like the governor opened his history
book -- or the Google search engine -- before making his decision -- we
decided to do the research for him: At one time in our not so distant
past, there was a bounty on the heads of the Indian people. Along with
animal skins, they would bring along Indian scalps to barter at the
trading posts. Red skins -- get it? It means a dead Indian's scalp.
There's no getting around the true meaning -- it's a part of a
notorious time in our country's history. At its most basic level, and
according to Webster's New World College Dictionary, 'redskin' is
defined as: an American Indian: now considered by many to be an
offensive term. A few hundred pages later, you find the word "whitey"
-- a white person or white people collectively: a usually hostile term
of contempt. [more ]
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