Native Americans?
The funny thing about this, and the Cleveland Indians where I live, that just removed the huge lit up Indians mascot....
I've never once seen an American Indian say that these things offend them.
You'd think the news would go straight to an Indian to hear how they are offended, but nope.
Twenty years ago I was on the Oprah Winfrey Show with Michael Haney and Suzanne Harjo to talk about the use of Native Americans as mascots for America's fun and games.
It was the first time in television history that a major talk show allowed Native Americans to openly discuss why we do not appreciate our use as mascots for sports teams.
I believe that tape is still available through Harpo Productions if anyone wants to see what happened on that show. In the ensuing years no other major network has found the topic interesting enough to pursue. After all, the mascot issue affects only a very small and politically weak segment of the U.S. population and there are those dissenters even among the Indian people who defend this nefarious practice.
I didn't know the USPTO could do such a thing. I'm not sure they should.
I have only seen rich white people bitching about the name.
I didn't know the USPTO could do such a thing. I'm not sure they should.
Washington White Guys.
US trademark law prohibits the registration of trademarks that, among other things, "may disparage... persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute".
That line is very open to be interrupted to whatever the current modern sensibilities of the time are, which is what is happening here.
Native Americans?
Who exactly is offended by the name?
If the United States Patent and Trademark Offices decision to cancel the trademark of the Washington Redskins stands, Amanda Blackhorse will deserve a large part of the credit.
Blackhorse, a Navajo and psychiatric social worker, is the named plaintiff in the case known as Blackhorse et al v. Pro-Football Inc., the lawsuit filed by five Native Americans. In a USA Today profile this spring, Blackhorse said she considered what she might say to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder if she ever meets him.
Id ask him, Would you dare call me a beloved patriot, right here, to my face? she says. And I suspect that, no, he would not do that.
The Blackhorse plaintiffs made essentially the same argument as those who filed the Harjo et al v. Pro-Football Inc. trademark suit in 1992. It was tied up in litigation for 17 years after Suzan Shown Harjo and six petitioners won a decision from the trademark board in 1999, then saw it overturned on appeal on the basis that they had waited too long to assert their rights.
Which would seem to be exactly the opposite of what the Washington Redskins does.
If you think of redskins everyone thinks of it as a team name not a racial slur.
Seems like a positive thing to me.
Washington White Guys.
Taking the term back if you will?
You mean these?
After months of courting support in Indian country, Snyder finally chalked up a big success: Seven octogenarian Navajo Code Talkers have endorsed the Redskins name and mascot. But judging from the reaction in Indian country, it could be his greatest misstep yet in this sordid campaign.
The endorsement was approved at a meeting of the Navajo Code Talkers Association (NCTA) in Window Rock, Arizona on February 28 – and was met with outrage from the descendants of code talkers actively involved in the association and devoted to honoring the legacy of their fathers and grandfathers...
Suzan Harjo wrote of the event: “The Redskins’ ‘honoring’ of Navajo code talkers consisted of four frail veterans standing in the end zone and receiving a round of applause. Three of the four Navajo elders wore Redskins jackets, with the new-clothes price tags still hanging at their wrists. These seniors probably thought this was another in a long line of recent recognitions of their WWII achievements some 70 years ago, rather than any implied endorsement of the team’s name.”
On hearing about the Code Talkers endorsement of the Redskins, Harjo honed in on MacDonald’s involvement. “He has a long history of exploiting his people,” she said, “and I think this is an example of that.”
Washington Lobbyists.
The logo can just be a fat wad of cash.
I was going to suggest the Washington Crackers, but maybe the Saltines would be better.Washington Honkies?
Washington Lobbyists.
The logo can just be a fat wad of cash.
US trademark law prohibits the registration of trademarks that, among other things, "may disparage... persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute".
Find a reference to Redskins in the last 15 years that isn't about the Washington Redskins or another sports team.