Perhaps the whole "change the Washington Redskins name" thing is going to play itself out soon as the fall NFL season starts up, or perhaps it never will. I believe that the current Redskins owner, Dan Snyder, has no intention of changing the team name, and has taken some proactive steps with the American Indian community that suggest he'd rather do some good with them, than be pressured into changing the name.
Of course, this being such an outwardly trivial matter, one may wonder why it came up. So here's why it came up, at least here. Many of you will recall the show "Quantum Leap", which ran for five years about 25 years ago. It starred Scott Bakula as Sam Beckett, a doctor who kept being transported in time repeatedly to alter history and help people who needed it. As soon as he arrived, he would have to figure out who he had become and why he was there, so he could do whatever good he was supposed to.
Quantum Leap appears in reruns a little bit. I happen to have seen an episode this week, in which the Dr. Beckett character is transported into the body of a young Shoshone Indian, whose grandfather is trying to escape his nursing home and a sheriff to make it back to the reservation to die on his own lands. The episode, if you're interested, is called "Freedom -- November 22, 1970." In fact, it is called that even if you're not interested.
The grandfather (played by a Hispanic actor, but if a Hispanic actress can play Maid Marian on "Once Upon a Time", then what the heck) is a very stereotypical Indian character, old, gray hair tied in back of his head, speaking sage wisdom most of the time.
Quantum Leap is not a comedy, but I had to laugh several times. As the grandfather and grandson (whose body Dr. Beckett leaped into) are on the run toward the reservation, having escaped jail, the grandfather on several occasions asks his grandson, "Who's the best team?", and answers his own question -- "The Redskins!" Several times this exchange is repeated, and each time the old fellow smiles, clearly identifying with his "team" proudly, and just as clearly showing not a shred of offense at the term.
So here's the thing. This is a show that has a number of episodes taking what would be thought of as PC positions -- protecting a gay man from abuse in one case; several defending women -- just read the five years worth of plots on IMDB if you want. But although the depiction is of an event supposedly happening in 1970, it was produced around 1990, and it is quite evident that no one had any compunction about having an old Shoshone identify proudly with the Redskins.
To me, that puts the lie to the whole notion of the name being offensive. There's the obvious in 2014, such as the existence of high schools on reservation calling themselves Redskins, and the polls of Indian populations putting the lie to the notion that very many even care, let alone are offended.
But seeing this episode persuaded me that 70-80 years of the (originally) Boston and then the Washington Redskins were perfectly fine, until there was a PC cause to drum up where none existed. There is no argument about the offense value of the team's name that can overcome the fact that at least through 1990, no one thought it offensive enough to get very upset about it.
If Hollywood, of all institutions, wasn't bothered in 1990, I can't imagine why I should believe anyone sincerely is today.
Copyright 2017, 2014 by Robert Sutton
