Native American Mascots AP Sythesis Essay October 2013 | Page 9

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Are You Ready For Some Controversy? The
History Of 'Redskin'
by LAKSHMI GANDHI
September 09, 201310:46 AM
CorrectionSept. 9, 2013

A previous version of this story misidentified writer Ian Crouch as Ian Crouther.

Clarification: We previously misstated Darrell Green's remarks to D.C. radio station WTOP,
saying that Green had said the team should consider changing its name. The former Washington
Redskins player actually told WTOP that the team should have a conversation about a name
change.

A Washington Redskins fan watches from the sidelines during the first half of an NFL preseason football game this August.
Nick Wass/AP

As the Redskins start a new season, they are once again in the center of a national debate
about their name.
On Thursday, the Oneida Indian Nation in upstate New York announced the launch of a radio
ad campaign urging the team to change its moniker. The ad begins with an Oneida leader
commending NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for condemning the behavior of Eagles player
Riley Cooper, after Cooper was recorded using the N-word at a concert this summer. While the
narrator applauds the NFL for taking swift action in the Cooper case, he then draws a parallel
between that slur and the word "redskin." "We do not deserve to be called redskins," he says
in the ad. "We deserve to be treated as what we are — Americans." The spots began airing in
the D.C. market on Sunday. (You can listen to it in full here.)
The Oneida campaign is just the latest protest this year against the Redskins' name. The online
magazine Slate made headlines last month when it declared the site will no longer use
"Redskins" to refer to the franchise, choosing instead to refer to "the Washington NFL team"
from now on. Slate isn't alone: The New Republic and Mother Jones quickly followed suit.
Major news sources like The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Associated Press,
however, will continue to refer to the team as the "Redskins" this season.
But where did the word "redskin" come from? Many dictionaries and history books say the
term came about in reference to the Beothuk tribe of what is now Newfoundland, Canada. The
Beothuk were said to paint their bodies with red ochre, leading white settlers to refer to them
as "red men."
According to Smithsonian historian Ives Goddard, early historical records indicate that
"Redskin" was used as a self-identifier by Native Americans to differentiate between the two
races. Goddard found that the first use of the word "redskin" came in 1769, in negotiations