"Oh, we are...

...Redskins forever!" 

Well, maybe not.  I’ve been bemused by the recent controversy over the Washington Redskins pro football team and the nature of the possible disrespect for the Amerindian reflected in the name.  The bemusement is caused by the fact that my alma mater, Tulare Union High School (in California), also used (and still uses) “Redskins” as their logo and it is splashed all over their personae including the school paper (the War Whoop), building facades  and various fighting-Indian pictorials and publications.  Beyond my own connection to the subject a Wikipedia item notes there are 62 high schools in the United States that use “Redskins” as their front-man to sell school spirit (and, probably, souvenir clothing).

While attending the school it never occurred to me or, I’m confident in saying this, anybody else that “Redskins” might be disrespectful to any ethnic group and now that I think about it I don’t think any of our Asian, African-American, Latino and Caucasian students and/or faculty gave it a second thought.  I have some reservation about this opinion but I don’t even know if we had any American Indians in the school or, for that matter, in the town.  “Redskins” was just a hook to bind us together and this logo was chosen way before my time at the school (founded in 1870) and even my mother’s school ring, class of 1929, had an image of an Indian on it.
 
I also never questioned the logos/mascots of my subsequent institutions of higher learning, Fresno State (Bulldogs) or San Francisco State (Gators).  They just were, although why SF State chose gators is beyond me as I connect that cranky animal with swamps and bayous, neither of which exist in SF.  If I had taken the time to think about it I might have made the assumption it was a side slant at the Golden Gate(r) Bridge but that might be too silly to admit.
 
So hey, now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of political correctness and I just might be sleeping through this controversy on the wrong side of history but, really, I don’t give a hoot about Temple University (the Owls) or the Santa Cruz Banana Slugs or the Tulare Union High School Redskins being “forever” as it is in the school song.  Yes, there is a bill afoot in the California legislature to make a change mandatory.  Fine.  Whatever.  Hold a contest.