The Washington Redskins football team are under renewed pressure to change their name to something, uh, less racist.
The name has long been criticized as insensitive. But in a USA Today poll 79% of respondents said they liked the name, and that it should not be changed. (Whatcha wanna bet they were mostly white?)
The team began as the Boston Braves in that hard-bitten depression year, 1932. They became the Redskins a year later, and kept the reverential nod to Native American heritage after moving D.C. in 1937.
Now a possible name change is on the table again, and the idea appears to be gaining traction. Newspaper columnists, even conservative ones, are writing cerebral, well-reasoned arguments about why a name change is in order. Even NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell observed, "I don't think anybody wants to offend anybody."
What are these people – milk-toast bleeding hearts? They're missing the point.
I hereby propose that all sports teams, from those in pint-sized Pee-Wee leagues through the professional ranks, begin a take-no-prisoners campaign to adopt names that challenge our thinking at every level.
It's all fair game! Why impose any limits of taste and decency? How about a team, maybe a basketball team, called the Miami N-Words? There's nothing to fear, except offending some limousine liberal.
This is America, after all. And the billionaire white men who own the nation's pro sports teams can name them whatever they please.
Maybe some rich guy can field a team called the the San Diego Wetbacks, or the Detroit Ragheads! How about the San Francisco Fag-bashers? The Kansas City Bible Thumpers? The Dallas Klansmen?
If some sob sister objects – too bad. You don't like it? Leave the country!
In fact, I'll hold the door for you. Meanwhile, I'll be rooting for America's Team: the Washington Rednecks.
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