History can be inspiring and uplifting. It can also be offensive. And that is a good
thing. It means our ideas about what is ethical, moral, and decent have changed –
hopefully in an evolving and progressive way – and we use that to evaluate past human
thought and behavior. When nineteenth-century Americans, for instance, used the terms
“savage,” “barbarian,” and “redskin” to describe Native Americans, few individuals
at the time voiced their displeasure. We may afford them some leniency because of
an ingrained prejudice in American society; many didn’t know better. But we do. There
is no place for such terms as “redskin” in our twenty-first century vocabulary. The
continuance of this demeaning mascot, especially in our nation’s capital, unfortunately
shows the limits of racial progress and the failures of leadership. Hopefully, enough
Americans will begin to see that there is indeed a problem with "Indian" sports mascots.