Redskins: Insult and Brand by C. Richard King (review)

R*dskins is a slur. It is an outdated and offensive term for Native Americans. C. Richard King makes that clear from the beginning of this work, Redskins: Insult and Brand, reiterating the word's ability to denigrate and dehumanize Native Americans through its use by the Washington, DC, NFL franchise. The issue is more than just the use of a racial slur for profit. King argues that the moniker encourages anti-Indian racism, reinforces white privilege, and perpetuates a distorted understanding of Native Americans and their past.

King elects to avoid using the r-word at all costs throughout his book, a stylistic choice that works to dissuade the defensible rationale for using it; as King says, "Persistent reiteration makes it appear reasonable and even appropriate" (xiii). By employing an altered version, R*dskin, when unavoidable, King emphasizes its problematic nature to illustrate that it is on par with other offensive epithets.

King has a long history of writing about the history and significance of Native American mascots. In his first book on the subject, Beyond the Cheers: Race as Spectacle in College Sport (2001), King employs vivid examples of popular uses and understandings of Native Americans and the practice of playing Indian in athletics, a concept developed by Philip Deloria.¹ Though the book focuses on the Washington, DC, franchise, King keeps in conversation with other manifestations of Native American mascots as microcosms of the larger issue of anti-Indianism.

The book is divided into eleven chapters that offer insight into many facets surrounding the use of and problems with the moniker. King takes on the history of its use by the Washington franchise, the emergence of Native American mascots, the concept of Indianness and the predominant control white people have had in constructing it, and the damaging effect the word has on Native Americans (the erasure of their history and the perpetuation of anti-Indianism). He also suggests ways to rethink, rename, and replace the mascot. All of this suggests answers for the questions King poses at the outset: "How do we stop dehumanizing Indigenous people? And, then, how do we create new stories and transform traditions to rehumanize them?" (10).

Washington, DC, football is one of the most valuable NFL franchises; it is hugely popular and profitable, with large fan support of the name. Current owner Dan Snyder has long conveyed his belief that the moniker is acceptable, claiming that it embodies tradition and respect. But King disagrees and argues that the name and logo do not and cannot honor Native Americans because of the word's deep connection to the history of anti-Indian violence and racism. Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Crow Creek Sioux), author of Anti-Indianism in Modern America, defines anti-Indianism as entailing four elements: it is anything that works to erase Indian and tribal existence, denigrate and insult being Indian, use historical experiences to blame them for their history, and exploit and distort Indian beliefs and culture.² Native American mascots embody these elements. These images displace agency, effectively ignoring the presence of Native nations and their position. "As tokens and trophies of conquest," says King, "such imageries diminish Indianness, dehumanizing and disempowering Indigenous peoples" (48). Due in part to the majority of Americans' limited knowledge of Native American history, ignorance perpetuates hatred when fans yell expletives at protestors, telling them to "go back to the reservation." Misrepresentation and misrecognition only naturalize anti-Indian racism. The franchise, since its genesis, has engineered Indianness that makes this practice common.

The team started as the Boston Braves in 1932, but owner George Preston Marshall changed the name the following year to the Boston R*dskins, a popular motif in media and culture at the time. The hiring of coach William Henry "Lone Star" Dietz, a self-identified Lakota, and four American Indian players provided "historical facts" for Dan Snyder, who then claimed that the word was chosen to honor Native Americans. The franchise neglected to reflect on its brand in its...