Essay 1356

From The Washington Post…

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In a Land Bleak in Opportunity, ‘Redskins’ Is One More Barb

By Courtland Milloy

MACY, Neb.

This is the capital of the Omaha Nation, homeland to Jillian Pappan, 19, one of six young Native Americans who have taken legal action to change the name of the Washington Redskins. I recently visited the reservation during a road trip west to learn more about the culture and convictions of a tribe that had produced such a firebrand.

Pappan, as it turned out, was away attending college in South Dakota. And many of her peers were more impressed with her efforts to get a higher education than those to cancel the Redskins trademark. True, the legal action showed that Pappan had not forgotten where she came from or who she was. But going to college had been her ticket off the 14,000-acre reservation, where 80 percent of the tribe is unemployed.

And there were others who wanted nothing more than to punch that ticket as well.

At the public school, I asked two seniors about their plans after graduation. “I want to go to college,” said Sissy Spears, 17, sounding as if she were wishing upon a star. “I want to study business administration and Native American culture.”

Ricky Saunsoci, also 17, nodded. “Me, too,” he said.

Scattered around the school were a few modest, well-kept homes. But other dwellings were run-down and appeared almost uninhabitable. For a tribe that settled along the Missouri River in the 1500s, long before even Lewis and Clark showed up, progress has been slow, the setbacks, many.

“Native Americans are the only people in this country who have treaties with the U.S. government, and there are many instances in which these contracts have been broken,” said Loretta Webster, chief of tribal operations. “If we had received what we had been promised, I’m sure many of our people would be much better off.”

Outside of Webster’s office, residents had gathered to apply for jobs and fill out applications for social services. You could see in many of their faces just how much substance abuse and violence, born of poverty and frustration, had taken their toll. Changing the name of a professional football team could not have been further from their minds. Yet, even the use of a name such as “Redskins” -- being debated in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after the six filed a petition saying it breaks a law prohibiting trademarks that disparage any race -- was part of an ongoing struggle for dignity and self-respect.

“’Redskins’ is offensive; there are no two ways about it,” Webster said, noting that the use of Native Americans as mascots was just one form of the disrespect many experience. “Going into town in search of work or just to shop can result in prejudice and humiliation. Not long ago, I was standing at the front of a line in a store and the cashier waited on everyone behind me. I said, ‘Am I invisible or something?’”

The petition was filed in August, but no date has been set for the hearing. The six who initiated the action are: Pappan; Shquanebin Lone-Bentley, 19, from the Seneca Nation; Phillip Gover, 23, from the Paiute Tribe; Amanda Black Horse, 24, from the Navajo Nation; Courtney Tsotigh, 18, from the Kiowa Tribe; and Marcus Briggs, 22, from the Muskogee Tribe.

Another group of older Native Americans had filed a similar petition in 1992 but lost on appeal. Now a new generation has taken up the fight. And even more are lining up to join them.

“I find the word ‘redskins’ offensive,” Spears told me. “When people say they are honoring us by using ‘redskin’ as a mascot, I say they don’t have a clue about what honor and respect means to us.”

It struck me as ironic, however, that the Omaha Tribe school was called “home of the Chiefs” and featured the image of a tribal leader as its logo. Explained Saunsoci: “I believe the use of natives to represent the spirit of a school or team can be good or bad, depending on how it’s used. When native people use them, we do not disparage ourselves and subject our people to ridicule.”

There was hope on the reservation, not just despair. Indeed, everyone I met was looking forward to Thanksgiving Day. Families would gather at the home of an elder for good food and conversation.

“We gather to give thanks for family and friends,” Spears said, adding, “and for our culture, which has survived in spite of it all.”