More than referring to the historical practice, the term over the years
became a rather standard insult used against Indians, often taking the form
of, "you dirty r...).  This usage can still be found in towns around Indian
communities.  I hear it in the upper peninsula regularly,  along with
people's casual reference to "the savages."  I though Ward needed to
address this in addition to the history. At 10:37 AM 1/28/2005, Tom Dutton
wrote:
>I've been thinking about Ward's talk last night and the term redskin.
>He put his remarks right at the beginning of his talk, which I think
>was effective.  If you were there, you heard him say that wearing a
>t-shirt with the term redskin is like wearing one with the term
>nigger on it.  Actually, I don't think that is quite the equivalent.
>Because as Ward makes clear, redskin does not refer to skin color or
>to a people, no matter how derogatory.  It refers to a practice--the
>historical (traditional)  Indian-killing-practice where one would
>receive a bounty by turning in that Indian's scalp or "bloody red
>skin."  Hence the equivalent phrase on a t-shirt might be "hang
>nigger" or "burn kyke."
>
>Ward's point is that the term redskin is a form of hate speech.
>Hence, it is a hate crime, and not protected by the first amendment.
>Fascinating.
>
>Tom Dutton

George Esber
Department of Anthropology
Miami University Middletown
4200 E. University Blvd.
Middletown, OH 45042