Many major media outlets make a commotion about the Redskins football team. ^[1] USA Today^[2] Huffington Post StreamTheir name is considered a racial slur and supporters of the name are lambasted as racist like the Confederate flag ^[3] Washington Post. Sure it’s offensive but what makes ‘Redskins’ more offensive than any other racial slur that we use everyday?

A little background on the word redskin. ^[4] Redskin — slang Redskin is offensive because it differentiates the speaker and the target. It only becomes important to label someone a redskin to signify their skin is distinctive i.e. they are different than you. Clearly, adding this label can be seen as insulting depending on the context and with the conquest of North America by English speakers it is definitely a negative.Reducing a group of diverse natives to the color of their skin is offensive. Just because they all have red skin doesn’t mean they like each other or are even remotely similar. Another example: Imagine the contempt when someone refers to a woman as “just another blonde”. Her sense of identity and  independence is overruled by becoming just another blonde.  I think we can all agree that Redskins is offensive; however, if referring to native Americans as redskins is offensive, then so is being called black or white.

If referring to native Americans as redskins is offensive, then so is being called black or white.

There is so much history and identity to people. Hell many different “black” countries fight eachother, and same with the “whites”. To simply reduce people to the color of their skin is insulting. Simply reducing a group of people as white, redskin, yellow, black is insulting. All the culture and identity of their heritage is overruled by a few naive monikers. If we want to do away with redskins we need to look in the mirror and stop referring to people by the color of their skin. All those forms with “white” and “black” on them. These monikers only separate people and accentuate differences. If we want truly want equality we can’t keep reminding people that that their skin color matters. Asking it reinforces segregation. We may have different skin, different heritage, different interests, different beliefs but we are all equal. We are all people on planet Earth and that’s the only thing that matters.