The Sun Chronicle
FARINELLA: PC police on the offensive
BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Dear Fearless: You exposed yourself as a racist and totally ignorant of the struggle for civil rights with your recent stand on school nicknames that insult Native American heritage. You should stick to box scores and sweat socks.
–Activist, Endicott, N.Y.
OK, let me get this straight. I'm a racist because I don't believe that the kids at Foxboro, King Philip and Seekonk who call themselves "Warriors" are intentionally using that nickname to insult the Native American population of this or any other state? Who's closer to the situation, someone who's lived in this area for 53 years, or someone from New York?
Funny thing is, I was an American History minor in college, and might have spent most of my life in a cushy professor's job at some university writing papers on the subject if I didn't have this misguided desire to be a sportswriter. And since I try to keep up with what's going on in the world outside of sports, I'd like to think I still have a pretty good understanding of the issues that have caused these questions to be raised.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'll concede the "Redskins" nickname or the Chief Wahoo cartoon used by the Cleveland Indians as unflattering and insulting references to Native American culture that probably should be changed. But as for the 46 schools in Massachusetts (an Indian name!) that use nicknames with either obvious or tangential references to the region's Native American roots, it's just another case of people going too far out of their way to be offended by something. The intent to insult just isn't there, nor has it ever been.