OUR subject for today: Braves, Indians, Chiefs ...and Redskins.

As you might know, football season is just getting under way. In
Washington, they've been awaiting it with more than a little anticipation.
The town's beloved Redskins got a new owner during the off-season and
he has been making changes. He has changed the practice facility,
changed the name of the stadium and threatened to change coaches if the
team's miserable play continues.

But there's one thing Daniel Snyder says he won't change: the name.

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Snyder explained that
the term Redskins "was taken actually as an honor," though he didn't
say by whom. He also said it was "never meant to be derogatory."

Which would doubtless come as a surprise to Native American people,
who, generally speaking, find the term nothing but derogatory. My
dictionary backs them up. "Offensive slang," it warns, "a disparaging
term for a Native American."

I get the sense most sports fans wish they'd go away, that noisy band of
Native activists who have been crusading against not just the Redskins,
but also Cleveland's Indians, Atlanta's Braves and Kansas City's Chiefs.
Sports fans, I think, wish they could just enjoy the game without being
pushed to ponder touchy questions of racial insult.

But that's a luxury Native Americans are unlikely to allow them. Nor
should they.

A time-honored idea.

In fairness to the Redskins, it might be instructive to recall what the
world was like when the team took the name in 1933. Racial and ethnic
branding was prominent in those years. You could go to the store for a
pipe cleaner called "Cannibal," whose logo was a spear-wielding African
with a bone in his hair. You might watch a basketball game featuring the
Buffalo Germans or the New York Hakoahs, an all-Jewish team whose
name was a Yiddish term meaning strength.

Native Americans were a particularly popular commercial icon -- they
were used to sell corn flakes, life insurance, motorcycles, butter, baking
powder and a brand of tires called "Savage."

Ethnic branding is hardly a thing of the past. Consider the Boston
Celtics, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and the Lucky Charms
leprechaun.  And, yes, you might fairly wonder: If Americans of Irish
descent are not up in arms about any of those, why should Native
people pitch a fit about sports teams?

The answer is simple: It's easier to laugh when you're in on the joke and
Native people are not. See, there's a crucial difference between the Irish
and the Natives. The one was assimilated, the other decimated.

A shameful practice

The mainstream has never welcomed Native people. Instead, it has given
them lies, land thievery and death. Those who survive it has chained to
lives of poverty, alcoholism and disease.

Is it any wonder, then, that seeing themselves held up -- or more
accurately, reduced -- to the status of commercial mascot stands for
many Native Americans as one more belittling insult?

I understand the emotional bond between fans and the team. I also
understand that doing the right thing is most important when it's most
difficult. In this case, the right thing could not be clearer:

Rename these teams.

That way, everyone can enjoy the game.

LEONARD PITTS JR. appears most Wednesdays and Fridays in the
Free Press. You can call him toll free at 800-457-3881, then select
option 8. Or E-mail him .
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.

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