Redskin Nickname Controversy (Dan Snyder quote) - A Response to First Take – Stephen A. Smith & Skip Bayless

So the other day I am watching First Take on ESPN (yeah, I must have been bored) and I hear the cuddly Stephen A. Smith and the lovable Skip Bayless as usual taking about something neither one of them are qualified or unbiased enough to speak on.  They start ranting about a quote from Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder in an interview with USA Today. “We’ll never change the name,” Snyder said. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”

Stephen A. Smith says “I am disappointed. I know Daniel Snyder and I like him a great deal. But he is being openly defiant. This is a slur to Native Americans.  Snyder’s level of dismissiveness to me, should alarm all of us.  We need to be sure we are cognizant and we are respectful and Daniel Snyder was not that”.

Mr. Smith, you say it was a slur? A racial slur? Are you calling Daniel Snyder a racist? Sounds a little like it. Also, what makes you think he is not cognizant of the situation? Do you even know what cognizant means? And by the way, dismissiveness is not a word. Are you cognizant of that? Are you even conscious??..

Then Bayless says, “This isn’t over my head. I did grow up in the State of Oklahoma surrounded by this culture and get it enough to know that even as a child I asked my parents, ‘They get to be called Redskins, are you kidding me? And again I was a cowboy fan… But if any member of any culture or race says, “Hey I am offended by that, then we should also say, “You are right, that’s offensive”.

That’s the thing, Skip. We let a loud-mouthed minority of the people control change.  Did you ever think about asking any of the people from the culture that you were surrounded by growing up in Indian Country? What does the MAJORITY of Native Americans feel? Did you ask even one?

Then Stephen A. chimes in. “If these Native Americans find it offensive, if you want to fight them on the name of the Redskins, go ahead and let the chips fall as they may.  But to be so openly defiant and so openly dismissive and to have your name attached to such a quote, I believe is irresponsible. The quote itself is so conspicuously dismissive I have a problem with that because that evokes another connotation to it. Like when you’re that dismissive, well what else are you dismissive about? How much do you really care? How sensitive are you really to offending different communities?”

Hey Stephen A., Do you think Dan Snyder is being dismissive? Gee Whiz, check a thesaurus…Maybe Snyder had answered the question several times and got tired as someone possibly as annoying keep prodding them with the same questions over and over.  Also did you do any research on this at all? I have yet to see a Native American group even mentioned concerning this topic.  How many Indians did anyone talk to?… Anyone?

Bayless then explains how he can sleep at night with the Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Chiefs keeping their nickname because it “honors the culture, the background, the legacy of the Native Americans but Red-Skins, it seems so blatantly racist to me”.

What about the Indians? You know, the American League team in Cleveland. Their logo, which as I understand they only wear at home games, is the worst. The caricature that they call Chief Wahoo offends me and I am not on any tribal role. Did you two geniuses know there was a Major League team in Cleveland?

Steven A. says, “The Native Americans are telling us that it is incredibly offensive”.

Really? Did you talk to any Native Americans? Has anyone talked to any Native Americans? From what I understand there are not very many in D.C. Know any in New York, Stephan A? Who is telling you that it is offensive? Have you talked to any Indians, Stephen A.? Are you cognizant of your dismissiveness?

Also, are  you two know-it-alls cognizant of this:

The Washington Redskins were originally known as the Newark Tornadoes and then the Boston Braves. In 1933, co-owner George Preston Marshall changed the name to the Redskins; possibly in recognition of the then head coach Lone Star Dietz who claimed to be part Sioux and played at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania , a teammate of Jim Thorpe, under famed coach Pop Warner.

Hmmm.. Interesting.

More to come

Here is a link to the segment
First Take – Stephen A. Smith & Skip Bayless – Dan Snyder quote USA Today

In the meantime, I am going to go ask some of my Native American friends and get to the bottom of this..