Wednesday, September 11, 2013
"IF WE ARE OFFENDING ONE PERSON, WE NEED TO BE LISTENING, AND MAKING SURE WE'RE DOING THE RIGHT THINGS TO TRY TO ADDRESS THAT": It sure sounds like NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's attitudes are evolving towards the nickname of the Maryland-Based Professional Football Team Which Got Run Over By The Chip Kelly Express This Week.
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Look, I know it bothers people. But it's part of the heritage of the city.
ReplyDeleteI mean, Poe was from Baltimore, there's another team named after a bird there, "Ravens" just made sense; no need to make Indy give up "Colts."
It seems this thing is gathering momentum towards critical mass. It's going to be an interesting battle, as both sides seem entrenched and willing to fight to the death.
ReplyDeleteThere's been a long trademark administrative proceeding about whether the mark should be cancelled as "immoral or scandalous." Basically, the courts have repeatedly bent over backwards not to reach the issue (10 years of litigation on the question of standing/laches, basically). It's now fully briefed before the TTAB, and there'll be a ruling later this year.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking into this issue a lot lately, after doing some reading on the mess of the Lone Ranger, and I think I'm pretty much on board with changing the names, including that of my alma mater, FSU. Like I said on FB, having always done a thing is not a good enough reason to keep doing a thing. Especially if it's genuinely offensive to a group of people who have really had to put up with quite a lot of shit over the years. We gotta grow up and stop piling on at some point.
ReplyDeleteI think there is some distinction in that FSU's teams are named after a specific tribe, from whom I understand they have worked hard to get proper blessing. Whereas the Skins, I go back and forth on. Most people don't even realize it's racist, but that's hardly an excuse. But short of a new owner, someone would have to come up with some serious pressure, because I hear that guy is not very amenable to change. Unless you mean changing coaches.
ReplyDeleteI get it when, say, Notre Dame or the Celtics say they're honoring a heritage. They're honoring (or lampooning) their own heritage, or at least the heritage shared by a plurality of their fans at the time the name was adopted. But there's something peculiar about adopting a team nickname taken from an ethnic group that has nothing to do with either the ownership/management or predominant fandom of the team itself. How did Florida State University treat Seminoles at the time that it adopted the name? Did it have outreach to gain enrollment or programs designed to honor Seminole history? Or did FSU discriminate against Seminole applicants? I don't know the answer to that, but it seems like it would be particularly important to test the claim of "honoring heritage."
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm biased (I'm biased), but I think the right way to honor a Native American heritage is something like the way the Seahawks have done it. They have incorporated Native American symbolism without lampooning it or being reductive. The Seahawks' logo is akin to the Saints' fleur-de-lis, which refers to Louisiana's Acadian heritage without reducing anybody to some kind of whoo-wee-dey-wondermous Cajun stereotype. The Seahawks are not the only team to get this right, but I think they're a great example.
I can say that FSU currently puts some effort into being respectful of Seminole history, though I have no idea when that started, and how the tribe was treated when FSU first adopted the name as mascot. The Seminole Tribe of Florida works closely with FSU to make sure Chief Osceola's wardrobe is accurate and to be certain FSU's students can learn about the tribe's history and the importance of Osceola. They've also changed the appearance of and symbols on the memorabilia over the years to make it less offensive. When you see protests at an FSU game, it's usually the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma, I think. They're the ones that protested when I attended. I just feel like, at this point, it's too little too late.
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