Royal Examiner staffer reply to: Retire the ‘Redskins’

The issue of changing the Washington NFL team’s nickname due to racist connotations has arisen previously. And as this reporter/editor noted during one of those cycles of national attention, the origin of the term “Redskin” came about during the westward migration of primarily white, European ancestry Americans through the 1800’s when bounties were offered for killing Indians. Eventually it was decided it was too cumbersome to make a person transport the dead Indian or Indians’ bodies at distance to collect their bounty. So, it was authorized that an Indian scalp was sufficient evidence of the murder to collect your bounty.

At the time Indian scalps were commonly referred to as “Redskins” a term which evolved into a racial slur to Indians in general. And while over time the scalping reference receded from public consciousness as the murder/bounty practice stopped as the west was “won”, and eventually the racist origins receded from memory as well, that is the historical context of the name’s origin, as well as the practice of scalping in the old West.

That said, as a D.C.-born lifelong fan of Washington professional sports franchises, if often not their owners, I would offer one addition to Mr. Pickering’s alternate names list, at least for the tenure of Daniel Snyder’s ownership of the team:

• Washington’s Irrelevant Reds