News Item, August 23, 2005: The Seminole tribe officially sanctions Florida State University's use of "Seminoles" as a nickname and Chief Osceola as a mascot. Max Osceola, the chief and general council president of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, said Tuesday that it was an "honor" to be associated with FSU.
Following the Seminoles' lead, the Hollywood-based Redskins Tribe yesterday officially endorsed the Washington, DC football franchise's use of "Redskins" as the team name. The Tribe, composed entirely of fictional film, TV and books characters, issued a press release:
The Washington Redskins name honors the poisonous stereotypes that have all but disappeared from popular culture. For years we were "on the warpath," first in dime novels in the 19th century, then in movies, and finally on TV. Yes, we were cartoon villains, divorced from historical reality, but at least we existed.
Then, the backlash started. There was that 1970 movie, "Little Big Man," with a character named "Old Lodge Skins," not "Old Redskins." OLS said things like "Indians think everything is alive... White men believe everything is dead." I mean, please. Real movie Redskins never talked like that.
Pretty soon there were movements to change the Indian mascots from teams.The Dartmouth Indians became the Big Green, the UMass Indians became the Minutemen, the St. John's Redmen became the Red Storm. Then the NCAA issued a ruling ordering that teams change their names.
If the Redskins football team changes its name, it could be the end of the line for stereotypes.
We cannot let that happen.
Hollywood Redskins Tribe
CEO: Movie Geronimo
Pres.: Movie Sitting Bull
Chairman: Radio/TV/Movie (sort of) Tonto