Race and Ethnicity
... Native Americans. The Stanford Cardinal used to be the Stanford Indians. Coakley suggested that schools that wish to have a Native American nickname should have to test their students on Native American culture. If 70% cannot pass then they would have to drop the nickname. Coakley also suggests that 2 press releases be published each year with information about the culture and heritage. I do not believe that these team names and logos are as offensive as some people are making them out to be. Granted I am not Native American so I am not in their shoes, but I honestly feel if I was that I would not be offended to the point that some of these people have been. If a person owns something, anything, they should be able to name it whatever they feel like. If people are offended by the Washington Redskins then do not watch their games or support them. I really feel the lady was overreacting when she was talking about the chief at the half time show. She went as far to say that it ruined her kid’s self-esteem. If ones self-esteem can be "ruined" by a guy in a chief outfit dancing, then that person had several other issues and very fragile self-esteem to begin with. She also stated that she knew about the chief and the halftime show. If she knew about it then why did she go in the first place? These teams did not get these nicknames with the intention of trying to bring down Native Americans. I bet most of them thought that it would be a good name and logo. Arguably some of the names are complementary. Why would people name their team after something they thought was weak unworthy. By choosing the name they are saying that they think the Native American is strong. I will admit that the Redskins are not complementary and can see why people would take offense to it. Again though, not to the point of protesting. If they don’t like the name don’t watch the team. A name like the KC Chiefs does not sound offensive to me. A Chief is seen as leader, the...