"Make war on their men! Make war on their women! Make war on their
children! Make war on their dead!" --The Iroquois war chief, Tecumseh,
speaking to rally the Creek to the Iroquois genocidal war against the white man at a Creek war
council. http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-dr-karen-woo-died.html
Good news! The Congress wants to hold hearings on the name of the Washington Redskins. The representatives of the United States plan on holding hearings on a word.
The American Indian was a neolithic culture invaded by Europeans who had built Chartres and the Sistine Chapel. Not surprisingly, this interaction did not go well. Initially most encounters were fatal for the Indian as he was not well armed but, more importantly, he had very naive immunology and suffered the European illnesses terribly. Generally they withdrew but eventually stood and fought, more for hunting privileges than anything. Starting with Jackson, their last stand over the 19th Century was absolutely savage on both sides. Eventually the American Indian was fought, starved, hunted, poisoned, infected, ambushed, his children murdered, his wives murdered, his food dispersed, his crops burned. The American Indian tried to do the same to his European enemy but was not successful. He barely survived these attempts at genocide.
But we will not allow him to be verbally degraded.
Many words might be suspect. The name "Blue Jackets" was chosen to celebrate "patriotism, pride, and the rich Civil War history in the state of Ohio and city of Columbus" and commemorates the blue jacketed regiments raised to fight the Confederacy. Is that offensive to the South? Too confrontational for an athletic team?
What about the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, the Chicago Blackhawks? Are the "Patriots" jingoist? Are the Giants offensive to little people? Are the Kings elitist? Do the Texans offend an Hispanic or two? What about the Devils, the Angels and the Saints--are atheists or evangelicals outraged? Are the Seahawks too angry and predatory? If so, what about the Predators? Do the Brewers suggest incontinence? Do Pirates glorify lawbreakers and social disorder?
We have a lot of purifying to do and so little time. And the offenses are everywhere. And can be subtle. Oklahoma is a word that was made up by the missionary Allen Wright. He combined two Choctaw words, "ukla" meaning person and "humá" meaning red to form the word that first appears in a 1866 Choctaw treaty. Oklahoma means "red person."
Good news! The Congress wants to hold hearings on the name of the Washington Redskins. The representatives of the United States plan on holding hearings on a word.
The American Indian was a neolithic culture invaded by Europeans who had built Chartres and the Sistine Chapel. Not surprisingly, this interaction did not go well. Initially most encounters were fatal for the Indian as he was not well armed but, more importantly, he had very naive immunology and suffered the European illnesses terribly. Generally they withdrew but eventually stood and fought, more for hunting privileges than anything. Starting with Jackson, their last stand over the 19th Century was absolutely savage on both sides. Eventually the American Indian was fought, starved, hunted, poisoned, infected, ambushed, his children murdered, his wives murdered, his food dispersed, his crops burned. The American Indian tried to do the same to his European enemy but was not successful. He barely survived these attempts at genocide.
But we will not allow him to be verbally degraded.
Many words might be suspect. The name "Blue Jackets" was chosen to celebrate "patriotism, pride, and the rich Civil War history in the state of Ohio and city of Columbus" and commemorates the blue jacketed regiments raised to fight the Confederacy. Is that offensive to the South? Too confrontational for an athletic team?
What about the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, the Chicago Blackhawks? Are the "Patriots" jingoist? Are the Giants offensive to little people? Are the Kings elitist? Do the Texans offend an Hispanic or two? What about the Devils, the Angels and the Saints--are atheists or evangelicals outraged? Are the Seahawks too angry and predatory? If so, what about the Predators? Do the Brewers suggest incontinence? Do Pirates glorify lawbreakers and social disorder?
We have a lot of purifying to do and so little time. And the offenses are everywhere. And can be subtle. Oklahoma is a word that was made up by the missionary Allen Wright. He combined two Choctaw words, "ukla" meaning person and "humá" meaning red to form the word that first appears in a 1866 Choctaw treaty. Oklahoma means "red person."
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