My grandfather was born on the Choctaw reservation in eastern Oklahoma, he was raised by Choctaw people, and he was at least 1/4th Choctaw. My other grandfather is 1/4th Cherokee, his Cherokee grandmother was named "Star woman" or just "star" but that was obviously the English translation of her native name.
I am not "part" native. I mean, whatever has passed to me isnt enough for me to pretend to identify as anything other than white.
I live literally on the trail of tears, with a crossing marker next to my home in SWMO, about 50 min drive from Oklahoma.
I am like many people from this area, like that stupid Tim McGraw song, part Cherokee and Choctaw.
It's not my place to speak for how the term "redskins" makes me feel or how it should make others feel.
I think any reasonable person can see the name is a relic in poor taste. White americans like myself have spent over 500 years creating the stereotype of the simple savage red man.
Does the name Washington Redskins actually hurt anyone today? No, not much imo.
As a huge fan of history, I don't have any desire to erase our past or to demonize our ancestors through the filters of modern morality.
So when I say I think the name "redskins" is a distasteful throwback to a long and ugly history of genocidal European colonialism on this continent and white supremacy in this country, it's coming purely from a place in me that knows better than to decide for others what they should and shouldn't be okay with.
"The name Washington honkeys wouldn't bother me!"
- me either, but I also wouldn't presume to think it wouldn't make some other people really uncomfortable.
Basically, I think it's in poor taste and won't mind seeing it gone, but more so, I think it's in even poorer taste for people to tell others how they should or should not feel about a cartoonish stereotype of a people subjected to a long hateful history of oppression by people who look like me.
