Redskin is a racial slur. It’s demeaning and hurtful — even Merriam Webster defines it as offensive.
I have worked with, served with and acquired lifelong friendships with a number of Native Americans of many different tribes from the Navaho, Hopi, Paiute, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Havasupai, Ute and Lakota to name a few. Never have they referred to themselves or have I referred to them by that word. It's just not done.
Something too often left out or forgotten from this dialogue is the Utah connection. For too many years the University of Utah football team was referred to as the “Redskins” or the “Running Redskins.” We changed the name to the Utes in the ’70s. I was there. We did it not from financial pressures, but because it was simply the right thing to do. The name was changed to the Utes after the university asked the Ute tribe for their approval and permission. That decision rings out as a sense of pride for those of us involved.
Now Washington has finally dropped its Redskins name, a good thing and the right thing. But what was their motivation other than money, greed, loss of revenue? Over the last 80 years, they have shown an appalling lack of caring for these Native Americans who have been hurt and offended. How sad.
As college students, we embraced another path to right a wrong. We buried the "r" word because it was simply the right thing to do. And that was 50 years ago!
Richard Thorum, Midvale