Calaveras Enterprise

A Midstream View: Redskins forever




Let’s face it. A total replacement of Sacramento’s politically correct legislators would be necessary before Calaveras High School could continue using the Redskins name. That isn’t plausible.

Once the horse leaves the barn, protests fall on deaf ears. The chances of politicians admitting they may have been mistaken are little better than San Andreas receiving a foot of snow in July.

I emailed Gov. Brown’s office on the issue in June. No response. In the same month, I emailed professor James Fenelon of California State University, San Bernardino, a leading advocate of banning California’s schools from using the Redskin name.

Professor Fenelon,

I’m aware you consider the Redskins term offensive. As of their last comment on the subject, a couple years ago now, the Calaveras Band of Miwok Indians considered the term a compliment to the brave Native Americans who fought against impossible odds to retain their lifestyle. (You may know Calaveras High School’s mascot is a Redskin, as it has been for around 100 years.)

I’m sure you have researched the matter much more thoroughly than I, but I have read a few books and have found, while Indians were despised by many settlers, the term Redskins was rarely used. I recently completed “The Golden Highway” subtitled “Highway 49, Volume II.” The editors selected many newspaper accounts and personal written remembrances of Gold Rush era pioneers. I noted 37 references to Indians, many of them very derogatory, only two favorable. Redskins was not used even once, Redman (not Redskin) twice but only as a description. Because settlers and Native Americans were killing each other rather regularly at that time, the hatred was understandable. The Native Americans undoubtedly felt the same way about settlers, but their voices were not heard in this book.

The point is, it appears to me considering Redskins an insulting term is due to modern re-interpretation, not historical fact. I’m aware of very early ads offering bounties on either Indian or Redskin scalps, but it appears to me Redskin was used more as a physical description. Plus, in much more recent years, I have heard despicable references to Indians more than a few times, never to Redskins.

If you have further info or have written an article or articles on the subject I would appreciate receiving them.Thank you.

I made the same inquiry, although briefer, to an American Indian named Dahkota Kicking Bear Brown. He considers the term derogatory. We had been exchanging emails since my original Redskin commentary was published. No reply was received from either party leading me to believe they lacked evidence to support their claims.

Historical revisions that correct prior inaccuracies should be welcomed, but it appears the opposite has occurred in this case. My research indicates Redskin was almost always a neutral descriptive word.

Accounts of the sometimes violent confrontations between settlers and Americna Indians have drastically changed since the 1950s. Then, stories of massacres and unbelievable cruelties were invariably attributed to savage Indians. We belatedly learned that supposedly civilized Palefaces indiscriminately slaughtered American Indians, including women and children.

Some believe banning the Redskin term is warranted even if only a few individuals are offended. I disagree. Allowing a minority to rule is not justice. I doubt legislators researched the matter, probably taking the easy way out. The squeaky wheel got the grease. I had believed political correctness was a relatively new disease: wrong! A friend, Irwin Cantieri, who graduated from Tomales High School, has corrected my error. In 2001, the school’s trustees, pressured by a few politically correct types, concluded the team’s name “Tomales Braves” and the American Indian logo were disrespectful and voted to eliminate them. An aroused public, including many American Indians, filled the gymnasium to overflowing to protest the decision. One PC leader declared the vast majority opposed to the changes were racists, even if they didn’t realize it. The almost unanimous jeers from the crowd nearly raised the gym’s rafters. Question: why do zealots embarked on a crusade often believe they are intellectually and morally superior to the unenlightened multitude? (Tomales Braves survived the assault; the logo didn’t.)

The feelings of what almost certainly are the vast majority of Calaveras County residents, including American Indians, were ignored. The leader of the Calaveras Band of Miwok Indians recently reaffirmed the tribe’s support for the Redskin name, and an American Indian student at Calaveras High School was quoted as saying, “I am proud to be a Red Redskin.” I didn’t graduate from Calaveras High, but am proud of my admittedly minimal (6 percent Wiyot and Cherokee) Redskin heritage.

Even though the PC shepherds have lead a gullible flock (aka legislators) into a pen, those with independent minds are free to continue displaying the century old, honored and respected Redskin name. Shirts and jackets are available at the high school office. I hear they are selling quite well. Buy and wear them.

Redskins forever!

Ted Shannon is a Mokelumne Hill resident and retired California Highway Patrol officer. Contact him at tsuj12@yahoo.com.

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