Editorial: Why we support keeping the 'Indians' nickname

Political correctness has its place as a warning alarm that individuals or groups have taken themselves too seriously.

Referring to teenage girls as “teen women” might be a clue that someone has gone too far to handcuff the language.

But too often those castigating someone for being carried away by political correctness are just giving cover to bigots. To say it’s being politically correct to want to change Washington’s National Football League franchise’s name from “Redskins” to something else is missing the point by a wide margin. “Redskins” is unequivocally racist, as racist as the founder of the team, George Preston Marshall.

The Board of Education’s decision Monday night to give a pass to a change of the name “Indians” for its sports teams seems to be a good one . It’s not clearly offensive as is Redskins.

But other schools changed their nicknames from Indians to something else, including Dartmouth, St. Bonaventure University and the College of William & Mary, out of respect for people who were offended.

What should be taken into account and not blithely dismissed is that some people were and are offended by Shelter Island School’s nickname. But there are obviously many more who are not, and their presence at the Board of Ed meeting was impressive against one lone dissenter.

One area of disagreement we have with those who want to keep the name Indians is using the power of “tradition” as an argument, as if every institution or symbol that has achieved some miles on its odometer is worth keeping. Think of the Washington Redskins’ tradition. (The former St. John’s University venerable and traditional “Redmen” was changed with little fuss to the Red Storm.)

Some of those in favor of changing the Indians name deserve hearing, one of whom you can read in our Prose & Comments feature in our print edtion. Pearl Williams, writer of the column, gives a sober and well-researched account of the issue.

America is always a work in progress and much has been done to root out bigotry from the violent expression of it (lynching, assassination, beatings, laws restricting ethnic and racial groups) to the casual corner-of-the mouth stereotyping of people.

And there’s always more work to do. Think of the Twitter half- wits and other social media trolls who thought it was funny and/or weird that an Indian- American woman, born in Syracuse, was named Miss America last weekend. What passed for humor was vile.

Those who would keep the Shelter Island Indian name and those who would opt for another have both made solid arguments, notably in the letter pages of the Reporter and at the School Board meeting.

All should be respected, and listened to carefully.