Category: English 11

Sticks and Stones
Contrary to popular nursery rhymes and sayings, words leave marks as deep and painful as sticks and stones. A word with no more than one syllable can silence a room and exasperate a culture using less than a breathe. If these words cause so much harm then why would we use them? Teams such as The Cleveland Indians, Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, and Edmonton Eskimos are all examples of taking words commonly used to appropriate a culture, and turning them into entertainment. Words such as Redskin stem all the way back to 1769; not only was it used as a derogatory term, it was used to describe the torturous scalping and skinning opposed onto the First Nation. Today the word is used to describe a football team which has won three Super Bowls; this team is depicted by a drawing of an Indian chief wearing a head dress with feathers, and cheerleaders who wear long black braids. Not only is the word connected to a dark past, they are portraying the Native Americans stereotypically. Many Aboriginals, including, Susan Harjo have filed a petition against the Patent and Trademark Office asking for the revocation of the team’s six federal trademark registrations, because of the disparagement upon the community. However, with the many people petitioning the court no change was made until 2014. With this being said, studies show that seventy-three percent of Native Americans were not bothered with the word, “redskins,” and only twenty-six percent were bothered by the use of Native American imagery in sports. Furthermore, the aboriginals have no doubt been through hardship, but it is not over for them; the issue of sports teams seems rudimentary to the trouble which faces their reserves. Most people wouldn’t think about the burdens they face; in their minds Natives live off the land with buffalo skins and spears. These perceptions, these stereotypes, drive from the medias notion of their culture. They see The Cleveland Indians, Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, and Edmonton Eskimos versions plastered on their uniforms, merchandise, and billboards, but they don’t see the truth. They don’t see who chief Blackhawk really was, and what war he fought in. They don’t know that Eskimos are really known as Inuits and that just because they don’t look like Pocahontas doesn’t mean they’re not indigenous. As Winona Linn once said in a spoken word: “ He could only call me out because of the colour of my skin but my skin doesn’t match his perception of Indian,” ( Linn, 2013) because they only see the transparent mask put upon their culture. If you were to replace the derogatory terms or crude cartoons with any other culture, light would shine upon the immorality. Light would shine on the sticks and stones.

Shapira , Ian. “A brief history of the word ‘redskin’ and how it became a source of controversy.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 May 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-brief-history-of-the-word-redskin-and-how-it-became-a-source-of-controversy/2016/05/19/062cd618-187f-11e6-9e16-2e5a123aac62_story.html?utm_term=.29f3f591d492.

“Poll: Native Americans’ attitudes toward the Washington Redskins team name.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 May 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/mobile/sports/poll-native-americans-attitudes-toward-the-washington-redskins-team-name/2034/.

PoetrySlamVancouver, and Winona Linn. “ Knock-Off Native.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Jan. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_zFOsd_pqA.