How names can hurt (Part One)?

The Spirit of Suzan Shown Harjo

Alot is happening in the USA right now, and not all of it is good.  And right now over there, they are commemorating Native American Awareness Month, which is a chance to recognize the contributions Native Americans have made to the USA.  One such person is Suzan Harjo, a Native American rights activists, and one of her campaigns is to get the Washington Redskins to change their team name.

Why, you might ask?  The premise is that:

 “Native” team names and images are racist, they destroy the mental health of actual Native children, and this racism must stop.

She also adds:

Harjo knows that the ongoing use of racist team names and symbols violate the United Nations (U.N.) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This declaration states that Indigenous Peoples have the rights to self-determine their own identity and to be free from discrimination. Harjo says, “When people continue to use slurs against us and to appropriate our identities, then you have name calling and stealing. I don’t know which is worse. They are both from a racially biased, bigoted impetus and origin.” And this racist behavior interferes with self-determination because it is so pervasive. She says, “These images and slurs are in your face all the time. Not just when there’s a game. They’re on the national airways. They’re in the grocery stores. They’re in advertisements. It’s all pervasive in general society. It’s not something that just affects you if you’re in certain cities, states or schools. It’s all over the place. You can’t escape it.”

So, what's in a name, may you ask?

“The use of that name harkens back to a time when we were actually skinned by bounty hunters who turned in our skins for payment. So, you had companies, colonies and states that issued bounty proclamations for dead Indians.  And what were presented as proof of Indian kill were the bloody reds*ins. Those who close their eyes to the origin of this word are simply not dealing with the reality of the practice of skinning our people. But even if you don’t know that and don’t care about what happened then, the use of a description of someone’s skin color is wrong. And when it occurs solely in a particular area, you’re talking about invidious discrimination. You would not see a day where its corollary would be used to describe any other races or ethnicities of people.”

Hence, the team should change its name because it serves as:

“the hurtful reminder” of the long history of mistreatment of Native Peoples in the United States.

 And according to Ms Harjo, such hurt can only continue as long as the stereotyping and the ways in which these people are actually portrayed continue, and as long as these people continue be made fun of.

(Continued in the next post)