Race Analysis - Washington Redskins

America has seen a tremendous decrease of the amount of racism in recent years. With so many groups pushing for equal rights, public opinion now wages a war on anyone famous who does anything that has even a hint of racist undertone. Why then is the mascot for the Washington DC football team a Native American? For that matter, why are they called the Redskins? This team is not only blatantly offensive to Native Americans, but also drags the rest of America back to a time of prejudice and discrimination.

The Washington Redskins mascot (and whole team identity) reinforces the image of Native Americans as dark skinned, somber, chieftains who are almost less advanced due to their spiritual traditions. While this image may have been true a couple hundred years ago, it holds very little relevance to modern Native Americans. Now Native Americans aren't longer excluded as an outside presence, but integrated into American. The classic Indian Chieftain representation gives Native Americans little agency and the Washington Redskins also do so by using an offensive term. I don't believe that the Washington Redskins should be forced to change their image, but I do believe they should do so out of courtesy as well as in order to better their image.