Every so often some numbskull beats the politically correct war drum protesting the names of sports teams.
The terminally disconnected claim the names of the some teams and their mascots are insensitive, even offensive, to Native Americans. Classic names like the Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Blackhawks.
My advice: Don’t swing at their politically correct spitballs.
If there are Native Americans whose feathers are ruffled over the names of sports teams, I submit that they are sorely focused on all the wrong things.
But that’s what too many Americans do – waste time and energy focusing on things that matter about as much as a giant ball of string.
There are many other issues that should demand our attention instead of talking about how insensitive the “Tomahawk Chop” is to Native Americans.
If we want to focus on the plight of Native Americans, call me crazy horse, but maybe we should start by addressing issues that truly matter most and would actually save Indian’s lives.
The high school dropout rates for American Indians is the highest in the nation.
How about focusing on the disastrous unemployment rate of American Indians, which is near 15 percent?
Suicide rates of American Indian males are twice that of other American males.
Alcoholism rates among American Indians are double that of other ethic groups.
The infant mortality rates among Native Americans are the highest in the nation. No one reports on that.
Abject poverty is the norm on reservations.
These brutally ugly and heartbreaking conditions are the real modern trail of tears, but what’s really disgusting is that a Motown guitar player has to shine a light on the tragedy.
According to the politically correct numbskulls, focusing on the supposedly insensitive names of sports teams somehow matters, and changing the names of the teams will somehow miraculously improve the lot of American Indians.
They are wrong as usual.
There are wafting smoke signals of real distress coming from the American Indian community that are being ignored. These are the life and death issues that actually matter, not pushing a brain-dead agenda to get sports teams to change their names.
Political correctness doesn’t fix anything. The cult of denial that is political correctness masks what matters most, which is why I refer to it as a social cancer that should be eradicated.
Because of my clean and sober, hands-on conservation bowhunting lifestyle and song “The Great White Buffalo,” Native American tribes have invited me to teach their young people how to reconnect with the land and teach them how to bow hunt the mighty American bison. It was in their midst that I learned firsthand about the terrible problems facing my Indian BloodBrothers.
We have a choice: actually doing good by focusing on real issues, or just feeling good by lobbying to get the names of sports teams changed.
Those of you who focus on feel-good issues aren’t helping one bit. More often than not, genuine quality-of-life upgrade comes from facing the painful demons and putting forth honest effort to rectify entrenched mistakes.
“Above the canyon walls, strong eyes did glow. It was the leader of the land, the Great White Buffalo! So listen everybody to what I got to say. There’s hope for tomorrow if we wake up today!”
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