Ethnic Names - What Actually Offends?

In Tuesday's (2/28/06) Journal-Sentinel there was a front-page article about Mardi Gras entitled, "The Big Whoop." It described a group of negro Americans that call themselves The Mardi Gras Indians. The particular "tribe" the article lead with was called the Geronimo Hunters. The first thing that came to my mind was how their use of those names and the article headline would be criticized as offensive to native Americans.

Of course, I haven't heard a peep. It turns out that this is part of an age-old Mardi Gras tradition supposedly in honor of the native Americans that harbored and protected run-away slaves. Nevermind that the term "Indian" is improper and that the war whoop has been criticized in other venues. Nevermind that the reference to Geronimo is inaccurate (Geronimo was a western desert Apache, having nothing to do with the New Orleans area or runaway slaves). Nevermind that the behavior exhibited by these "chiefs" during Mardi Gras has nothing to do with the original native Americans. It is evidently the thought, or at least the claimed intent, that counts.

But is it really just the thought that counts? The use of those names by competitive sports teams also honors native Americans. With the exception of a few derogatory terms (such as "redmen," for example), this use honors the competitive spirit, bravery and effective battle skills of native Americans. Considering that most all "politically correct" designations are "leftwing" or "liberal" in origin, perhaps the actual use of native American names is not the problem.

It apparently isn't the use of ethnic names so much, nor even that a few overly sensitive native Americans might actually be offended. Rather, it appears that it is the celebration of competitive skills and battle traditions that the lefties find offensive. That might explain why words like "warriors" that could be accurately attributed to fighters of any race or nationality are included in their ridiculous rants, while other ethnic names such as "Vikings" are not.