Church group votes to boycott Redskins over name

[Sportsguy9695]

A major sector of the United Church of Christ is calling for a boycott of the Washington Redskins until the team changes its name.

The Central Atlantic Conference passed a resolution Saturday to become the latest organization to denounce a name that has frequently been condemned as a racial slur.

The conference said it will urge its 40,000 members in D.C., New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and parts of Virginia and West Virginia to boycott the team's games and merchandise.

Conference minister Rev. John Deckenback said changing the name won't solve the problems of Native Americans, but it "can send a strong message."

There has been increasing pressure over the year for the Redskins to change the name. Team owner Dan Snyder has vowed he will never do so.

Source: ESPN

 

[SoCalWizFan]

A major sector of the United Church of Christ is calling for a boycott of the Washington Redskins until the team changes its name.

The Central Atlantic Conference passed a resolution Saturday to become the latest organization to denounce a name that has frequently been condemned as a racial slur.

The conference said it will urge its 40,000 members in D.C., New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and parts of Virginia and West Virginia to boycott the team's games and merchandise.

Conference minister Rev. John Deckenback said changing the name won't solve the problems of Native Americans, but it "can send a strong message."

There has been increasing pressure over the year for the Redskins to change the name. Team owner Dan Snyder has vowed he will never do so.

Source: ESPN

Boycott games?

Good - I hope that this picks up steam so that more tickets will become available for others. What a ridiculous boycott.

 

[douggie]

What a great cause to boycott. I guess war, terrorism, abortion, civil liberties, and genocide were being taken by all the other denominations.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

Conference minister Rev. John Deckenback said changing the name won't solve the problems of Native Americans, but it "can send a strong message."

Source: ESPN

BTW - how will changing the name help to solve the current issues for the Native Americans? I think this guy is way off base on this one. More likely shortly after the name is changed these issues will become an afterthought.

The reality is probably that this is another guy looking to bring attention to himself & his organization. Let's look at this another way. Let's say the name remains yet Snyder & others donate money & their time to Native Americans & in the process actually solve some of their problems. Is that a bad thing?

Again - if the name changes so be it, but I hate to see guys like this grandstand primarily to help their own cause and line their pockets in the process.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

What a great cause to boycott. I guess war, terrorism, abortion, civil liberties, and genocide were being taken by all the other denominations.

Agree. Also - at least in the case of the games the boycott will have no effect. NFL fans boycott games mainly when teams are losing & even if the members of this church boycotted some games there would be lots of other people lining up for seats (unless the team was struggling in which case attendance would be down regardless).

 

[Sharkinva]

Got to wonder who is next to jump onto the band wagon of this train?? The Boys and Girls club of America?? We are going to be politically corrected to death on this matter.

 

[j_y19]

Got to wonder who is next to jump onto the band wagon of this train?? The Boys and Girls club of America?? We are going to be politically corrected to death on this matter.

The feminists? The Iranians?

None of them make any difference until Dan and/or the NFL starts to feel it in their wallet. Unfortunately, the tide is building. I suspect that Dan will start to feel the effects of the oncoming tidal wave by years end.

So, what should the new name be??

 

[Sharkinva]

The feminists? The Iranians?

None of them make any difference until Dan and/or the NFL starts to feel it in their wallet. Unfortunately, the tide is building. I suspect that Dan will start to feel the effects of the oncoming tidal wave by years end.

So, what should the new name be??

IM a firm believer in the fact that the name shouldnt be changed. And I honestly DONT think Dan will feel it in his wallet. Because for every person that FEELS the name is wrong, there will be five more willing to take those seats at the game. Any one has a right to not like the team name, what we dont have the right to do is force some one to change something because it hurts our feelings.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

The feminists? The Iranians?

None of them make any difference until Dan and/or the NFL starts to feel it in their wallet. Unfortunately, the tide is building. I suspect that Dan will start to feel the effects of the oncoming tidal wave by years end.

So, what should the new name be??

Like I said in another thread - keep the name but change the logo to a Redskin potato.

 

[j_y19]

Like I said in another thread - keep the name but change the logo to a Redskin potato.

The Spuds? I see all kinda derogatory names stemming from that. I don't think so.

The No Names?
The PCs?

I can see it now, Danny will hold a contest. Only $1 per entry. Parking extra.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Good for them, they have the right to freedom of speech/religion, I fully support their right to exercise their rights, just as many of you feel the Redskins have the right to exercise their rights. People bashed the churches for trying to do with slavery back in the day, maybe this will send a powerful message as they say.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

Good for them, they have the right to freedom of speech/religion, I fully support their right to exercise their rights, just as many of you feel the Redskins have the right to exercise their rights. People bashed the churches for trying to do with slavery back in the day, maybe this will send a powerful message as they say.

Send a powerful message about what - lame boycotts? Do you honestly believe that an effort to not attend Redskins games will have any impact? There are tons of people who will gladly take those tickets off their hands. If they will simply keep the tickets and eat the money then they are even dumber. If nothing else that is money that could be used to help Native Americans who live in poverty.

I still don't see how a name change (which I will accept if/when it happens) will help Native Americans with their real issues. Enlighten me.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Send a powerful message about what - lame boycotts? Do you honestly believe that an effort to not attend Redskins games will have any impact? There are tons of people who will gladly take those tickets off their hands. If they will simply keep the tickets and eat the money then they are even dumber. If nothing else that is money that could be used to help Native Americans who live in poverty.

I still don't see how a name change (which I will accept if/when it happens) will help Native Americans with their real issues. Enlighten me.

It's not just about Native Americans, it's about showing respect to people we annihilated like no other race in the history of mankind. It's the equivalent of having the name, "Washington Negros"…

Charles Krauthammer: Redskins and reason - The Washington Post

Also, what do the Redskins do to address Native American poverty? They certainly have no problems exploiting their name, maybe they should feel somewhat obligated to give back?

 

[SoCalWizFan]

The Spuds? I see all kinda derogatory names stemming from that. I don't think so.

The No Names?
The PCs?

I can see it now, Danny will hold a contest. Only $1 per entry. Parking extra.

In his honor - rename them after Harry Reid & call them the d-bags. They will always have a chip on their shoulder & come out fighting every game.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

It's not just about Native Americans, it's about showing respect to people we annihilated like no other race in the history of mankind. It's the equivalent of having the name, "Washington Negros"…

Charles Krauthammer: Redskins and reason - The Washington Post

Also, what do the Redskins do to address Native American poverty? They certainly have no problems exploiting their name, maybe they should feel somewhat obligated to give back?

"We"? Excuse me. I didn't do any of this nor am I aware of any of my ancestors who performed these actions. Also - again - changing the name won't help people who need food, water & decent housing. People who have these needs could care less about the name of a football team.

My point is that the bigger issue is taking care of people now. Again - go ahead & change the name if needed, but that is not the real issue. It is only made to be an issue by people in the media and government (and in organized religion) who are basically attention whores.

As a starting point - how about identifying ways we can help the current Native Americans who need our help - send me some info & I will help where I can.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

"We"? Excuse me. I didn't do any of this nor am I aware of any of my ancestors who performed these actions. Also - again - changing the name won't help people who need food, water & decent housing. People who have these needs could care less about the name of a football team.

My point is that the bigger issue is taking care of people now. Again - go ahead & change the name if needed, but that is not the real issue. It is only made to be an issue by people in the media and government (and in organized religion) who are basically attention whores.

As a starting point - how about identifying ways we can help the current Native Americans who need our help - send me some info & I will help where I can.

I'm all for helping Native Americans, but we could do both change the name and start addressing Native American issues. The 2 are not mutually exclusive.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

I'm all for helping Native Americans, but we could do both change the name and start addressing Native American issues. The 2 are not mutually exclusive.

Native American Heritage Association | Serving those in need since 1993

National Relief Charities (NRC) - helping Native American people improve the quality of life. - National Relief Charities

Here you go (for you & anyone else on this forum) - a start. I won't worry about the name change since - regardless of how we feel - it is outside of our control & the loudmouth politicians & mediots will probably take care of this one way or another. I will worry about other things like the upcoming season.

HTTR

 

[Sharkinva]

It's not just about Native Americans, it's about showing respect to people we annihilated like no other race in the history of mankind. It's the equivalent of having the name, "Washington Negros"…

Charles Krauthammer: Redskins and reason - The Washington Post

Also, what do the Redskins do to address Native American poverty? They certainly have no problems exploiting their name, maybe they should feel somewhat obligated to give back?

Cultural Guilt at its finest basically. We arent going to actually give back the land we stole, put in place programs to help you lift your own pride and self worth. But a meaningless gesture that will both say we care, and make us FEEL better aboutthe things our forefathers did... well now THAT we can get behind.

 

[Sharkinva]

We don't have to rub salt in anyone's wounds. I'm all for Native American assistance (we owe it to them) but that doesn't mean we have the right to mock them and exploit them as well.

I dont owe jack shit to the Native Americans. What happened to them was tragic, but no more or less tragic than Slavery, the Anglo Saxon r*pe of Africa ( Which still goes on to this day mind you), or the holocaust for that matter. The team name has never been nor was it ever intended to be mocking. Its simply a word. The meaning of a word is how YOU personally take it in context. But because one person takes a word to be derogatory does not make that word derogatory. Because Websters Dictionary proclaims a word could be used as a slur does not make it so. Hell said in the right context, by the wrong person, the word BOY could be seen as a racial slur... and I have been called BOY as a racial slur many more times than I have ever heard the term Redskin used as a slur. Should I take offense and rally a cry to have the word BOY removed from social use because some peckerwood cop thought it made him superior to refer to me as boy??

 

[j_y19]

IM a firm believer in the fact that the name shouldnt be changed. And I honestly DONT think Dan will feel it in his wallet. Because for every person that FEELS the name is wrong, there will be five more willing to take those seats at the game. Any one has a right to not like the team name, what we dont have the right to do is force some one to change something because it hurts our feelings.

I don't think there is reason to change the name, either. It won't be ticket sales that will hurt Dan. One person drops off, another 10 are in line. It will be sponsors, networks, and players. Sponsors and Networks is where the big money is. TV rights, merchandise, etc. When sponsors get pressured to cave, they go to the Networks (ESPN for example) and say no more ads on your networks as long as you broadcast Redskins games. More than one do this and I can promise you it will have a direct impact. Also, as soon as one prominent Redskin player says he can't play for the skins any more as long as they support racism (their words, not mine) and watch how the team falls apart. Some will support Dan, some will be vocal for the player. Some may even join the player.

This is how Dan gets pressured to change the name, its not from some boneheaded Reverend directly.