U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
71–80 of 89 posts
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I learned over the weekend that "red skin" was used to describe the blood on their skin after they were maimed/killed. edit: http://www.npr.org/2014/06/12/321392824/the-ad-campaign-to-t...
There are actually no citations to support this, and prior usages make it seem unlikely that is the derivation. That isn't to say it's not offensive -- but I don't think promotion of inflammatory false information is constructive. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10...
I agree with the general tenor of this comment, but the idea that you need a "citation" is misplaced. The common practise of "scalping" was widespread (although not uniformly) and this is documented in various places. The speculation on the origin of what is essentially a slang word is speculative regarless of what side of the debate you want to argue--thus citation is irrelevant. Conversely, there was certainly an origin of the term, and lack of citation doesn't support the term never had an origin (correctly understood or otherwise).
A variation of "Red-skin" also appears in the French Language (something there is no data to support Native Americans would have objected to, presumably). Again, this is neither here nor there in that french speaking canadiens would have been in contact with all manner of native americans, including those among which 'scalping' took place (in terms of geographic an time period overlap etc).
editL
Just a cut-n-paste but might be helpful for some folks to baseline:
Redskin...had not emerged first in English or any European language. The English term, in fact, derived from Native American phrases involving the color red in combination with terms for flesh, skin, and man. These phrases were part of a racial vocabulary that Indians often used to designate themselves in opposition to others whom they (like the Europeans) called black, white, and so on.
But the language into which those terms for Indians were first translated . The tribes among whom the proto forms of redskin first appeared lived in the area of the upper Mississippi River called Illinois country. Their extensive contact with French-speaking colonists, before the French pulled out of North America, led to these phrases being translated, in the 1760s, more or less literally as peau-rouge and only then into English as redskin. It bears mentioning that many such translators were mixed-blood Indians.
So the original term in the west was "peau-rouge" and this can be see in various french-language citations if needed--including news reports. How and why this was used as slang in English is another question all together, and how or why it ended up as a mascot (like braves, warriors, spartans etc) another question again.
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
The decision is not based on the dictionary definition only, but based on the fact 1/3 of Native Americans have consistently (based on the evidence presented) thought the term to be offensive. Oddly enough, one of the owners of the redskins was a racist. The washington redskins were the last team to integrate and their foundation was specifically forbidden to donate money towards integration causes. However, I think…
(1) Native Americans are not some homogenous group of people. (2) 1/3 is an arbitrary number. The threshold for materiality is only 5% generally speaking. (3) The whole analysis is clearly an ex post facto rationalization of a pre-conceived policy outcome (4) This is a terribly way to make law (5) Cloaking it in "data analysis" is a joke...see 1-4.
If the Fed Circuit reverses, it might be on the evidence, but that is a higher standard for reversal.
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#74I always liked this song, which is relevant.
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#75This is a great victory. Now anyone can legally use the term Redskins, not just the football team.
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apache is not a derogatory name for an American Indian. '"Redskin" is a term for Native Americans. Its connotations are a subject of debate,[1] although the term is defined in current dictionaries of American English as "usually offensive",[2] "disparaging",[3][4] "insulting",[5] and "taboo." [6]' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redskin_(slang)
The decision is not based on the dictionary definition only, but based on the fact 1/3 of Native Americans have consistently (based on the evidence presented) thought the term to be offensive. Oddly enough, one of the owners of the redskins was a racist. The washington redskins were the last team to integrate and their foundation was specifically forbidden to donate money towards integration causes. However, I think…
We always ask them how they feel about Andrew Jackson, you know the guy on the twenty dollar bill? I am very sure he is more offensive than the football team.
I assume we are only after sports teams because its easy to guilt the owners. Please have Cleveland get rid of their mascot
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#77An interesting visualization showing the land seized from Native Americans in the United States. http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/06/17/interactive_...
On the other hand, has any conquering nation ever set aside so much self managed land for the people it conquered?
Might does not make right. And modern people did not sign off on those conquerings.
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand, has any conquering nation ever set aside so much self managed land for the people it conquered?
Might does not make right. And modern people did not sign off on those conquerings.
When do we decide what is right? The Sioux conquered Crow and took their lands, so who holds the right to South Dakota?
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
The decision is not based on the dictionary definition only, but based on the fact 1/3 of Native Americans have consistently (based on the evidence presented) thought the term to be offensive. Oddly enough, one of the owners of the redskins was a racist. The washington redskins were the last team to integrate and their foundation was specifically forbidden to donate money towards integration causes. However, I think…
We always ask them how they feel about Andrew Jackson, you know the guy on the twenty dollar bill? I am very sure he is more offensive than the football team. I assume we are only after sports teams because its easy to guilt the owners. Please have Cleveland get rid of their mascot
Hyperbole and incorrect facts ref. Cleveland.
Cleveland's name is based on reference to the nickname for Joe Louis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Browns and the original owner wanted to name it after the coach Paul Brown.
Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
#80For anyone not understanding what this is about, here's the most important part of the ruling: > > ...we decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that > these registrations must be cancelled because they were > disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times > they were registered, in violation of Section 2(a) > of the Trademark Act of 1946, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a). > Seems like this ruling may lead to m…
I wonder if these name controversies will lead to team Insignia issues. The team's name was based on a derogatory term, but their logo depicted a native american man that was drawn semi realistic. The Cleveland Indians literally use a cartoon caricature a Native American with red skin and a questionable facial expression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cleveland_Indians_logo.svg
Cleveland has been de-emphasizing that logo recently. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10270450/mlb-cleveland-ind...
As an Indians fan, I won't mind seeing it disappear completely. It's embarrassing.