By:  Connor Fitzgerald

 The Washington Redskins are on the brink of becoming part of a long list of professional, college, and high school teams that have had to change their name due to issues of racial stereotypes.  And these changes are often with regards to the Native Americans.

There are two sides to every story. One side, the side opposing the name, says that the term the ‘Redskins’ is an offensive term and that their logo is stereotypical towards Native Americans. It puts them in a negative light and doesn’t accurately depict Native Americans. The other side of the story believes that the term the ‘Redskins’ is a positive term in reference to the Native America and their culture. Also, they say that the tradition of the name is another reason to keep their name. The Redskins name change has faced a recent surge of unhappy and angry protesters in the past two months; but, despite the protests, the owner, Daniel Snyder, has no intentions of changing the name whatsoever.

After reviewing the topic,  I think that the Washington Redskins do not need to change their name at all and the controversy is just another example of America overreacting to a small debate. One main question I have for America society: Why do we need to make problems when there doesn’t need to be any? The main reason why I don’t think the Washington Redskins need to change their name is simply because America is overreacting. It seems that people need to make a deal out of everything. And when I mean everything, I mean every small detail that in most cases would be overlooked.

Let’s take a simple case of school into example and compare school from the late 1990s to now. At our very own Westborough High School, dodge ball was once called murder ball and was played with rubber balls. Today, we have soft foam, because God forbid someone were to get hurt exercising. Also, hitting somebody in the head today may deserve a punishment or timeout, for five minutes but not more than twenty years ago, hitting somebody in the face would be means for cheers and laughter. Tough love was a term that could’ve been used, but not anymore.

Let’s look at another example:  kids’ sports. In seems that in all scenarios today, regardless of the place someone finishes, they get a trophy. I am all for having fun and I don’t want kids to get left out, but not every kid deserves a trophy. It is simple; the team that wins deserves the trophy. These two example are just two, general topics/ ideas of how America has progressively become softer over the years.

Now let’s connect this back to the Washington Redskins. The majority of people opposed to the term the ‘Redskins’ believe that it is a derogatory term and that it is a negative stereotype. In my opinion, this whole issue could be avoided if people didn’t need to make problems out of nothing. The Washington Redskins’ mascot is a ferocious warrior dressed up in war garbs with feathers and such. People think that this is meant towards Native Americans because it is inaccurately depicting the true nature of the Native Americans. Why do people even need to bring this debate up? I think that their mascot commemorates the courage and strength of the Native Americans. The negativity doesn’t even need to be brought into the equation.  People need to thicken their skin and stop ‘digging in’ to situations and making more out of nothing. Many fans throughout the league didn’t even think about the term ‘Redskin’ in a negative light until the advocates to change it brought it up. All stereotypes that emerge and exist could have been avoided, in the first place, if people didn’t make a small argument out of nothing.

The main point of this article is not meant to disrespect Native Americans or any other race. I think that the Washington Redskins name change controversy is a situation that was blown way out of proportions. I am, one-hundred percent, in favor of the organization keeping their name. I know everyone may not agree with me, but I think this controversy is just another example of America being too soft. America needs to toughen up and thicken its skin.