An Idiotic Headline

A letter to the editor Washington Examiner Newspaper regarding a particularly stupid front page story on the Washington Redskins:

Re: Redskins are still Indians, November 17th.

Of all the professional sports franchises in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, the Washington Redskins are indisputably the most popular. So I get it that the Examiner would devote front page coverage to the United States Supreme Court's refusal to hear arguments from a group of Native Americans that the team's trademark is patently offensive. What troubles me is the meaning of the headline "Redskins are still Indians." Are you suggesting that the high court's action is tantamount to saying that Redskins is an acceptable term? (Suppose the situation was different and the team was named the Washington Honkies, would the headline read "Honkies are still white people"?) Or, that the current roster of players are Native Americans? And what is the point of trotting out the photograph of the buffoonish Zema Williams, the misguided negro who poses as Chief Zee and unofficial team mascot? (There is perhaps hidden meaning in an African American masquerading as an Indian for a team that had to be forced by the Federal Government to accept black players).