Sports teams dropping offensive names can spark good conversations

If you spend time with any children or teens lately, you might have heard them using the slang term “savage.” see young people using the term to refer to themselves or others on social media and on YouTube videos.

I find it troubling that a word that can be so offensive has found a place in the mouths of youths. They call themselves “savage” if they’ve done something without caring about repercussions or how it affects others around them. When they use this word, it’s viewed as a compliment.

I don’t know if they are aware this was, and still is, a derogatory term used toward Indigenous people. It’s a word that was used to infer Indigenous people weren’t human. If young people knew this, I wonder if it would change their minds about using it.

There are many terms and names that become mainstream that are offensive to communities they reference.

When I heard the Edmonton Eskimos football club was changing its name, it made me sigh and think to myself: “It’s about time.”

There are many sports teams across North America that have their names and mascots derived from Indigenous communities or Indigenous stereotypes. These names have been under scrutiny for many years and not just by Indigenous people.

I welcome the name change of the Edmonton football team and I think it is a great step forward.

When organizations are making decisions such as this one, I don’t think there needs to be consensus. Not everyone has to be offended for a name to be changed and not everyone has to agree. If the name refers to an Indigenous community and the community, or many in the community are offended by it, that’s whose opinion should matter most.

I know many sport fans may have an issue with it and they have many nostalgic memories of the team name and the logo. There is bound to be the argument, “That’s what it’s always been, what’s the problem?”

I hear these reactions and I understand, I really do. Change is hard for all of us. The team was founded in 1895 and officially adopted the name the Edmonton Eskimos in 1910. I am not sure what connotation the word “Eskimo” had in 1910, or what the Inuit community thought of the word being used in the team’s name at that time. I do know that words’ meanings and appropriateness change over time.

I am 38 years old and when I was a child, other children would ask me: “Are you an Indian?” The word “Indian” was used back then, and hopefully, no one today would ever ask me that same question with that phrasing today.

Politically correct terms have changed over the years. When I was in middle school, my peers asked me if I was “Native.” By my late teens. I was asked if I was “First Nations.” Then the questions changed to “Aboriginal” and now the word is “Indigenous.”

As correct terms evolve, we can do our best to evolve with them and listen to others who can correct us when a term or phrase being used can be deemed offensive. We can’t all stay up-to-date on everything all the time, and that’s when we can rely on teaching moments as they happen.

With the Edmonton team the name has been under scrutiny for a while, it’s not something that just happened overnight.

I am of First Nations and Inuit descent, and my family is from Fort Chipewyan in northern Alberta. I was adopted at birth and not raised in an Indigenous home. I am very proud to have Inuit roots even if I don’t know very much about my culture.

I have seen online the support of Inuit leaders and Elders toward the decision to change the name of the Edmonton team.

In the United States, the Washington Redskins football club has announced its name change as well. It has had the same name since 1937. For the 2020 season it will be called Washington Football Team.

I am impressed that these institutions have committed to doing better and in this process they are publicly demonstrating the importance of respecting Indigenous people. It’s steps like this that start conversations and demonstrate why using the term “savage” isn’t OK.