The Battle for On-Air Profanity

Ever since racist white people lost their privilege to say the N-Word in public, not just in a rap song, they’ve been looking for a substitute for that word. In the 2000s they tried ‘Iraquis’ for any brown person, but then realized it makes them seem like they don’t understand geography. They tried ‘Border Jumpers’ for Latino, but there was really no jumping involved, more of just a walking into the country thing. They even tried to bring back ‘Beaner’ but all of Boston got enraged over that.

In the recent months, the word ‘Redskins’ has started to become a derogatory term for Native American. So much so that an NFL team has lost the trademark for the their team. Of course there as an uproar from the community of sports fans and radio broadcasters. These people want to keep using the term repeatedly and frequently for no real reason.

Despite the various Native American Tribes that have said they are insulted by that word these guys are adamant about using it. Saying that it is not a profane word or derogatory and is an honorable term. But really the term ‘Redskin’ was used as a slang for Native Americans when the British ruled this country! This makes these broadcasters the equivalent of 1600s British People. Because of that this word should be taken off the air and the FCC should regulate that as a profane word.

But these white racists are not ready to take this word out of their vernacular. They are hiding behind the First Amendment saying that it’s freedom of speech. But just because you have the freedom to say certain words, doesn’t mean that you should. You have the freedom of yelling ‘Fuck!’ in a crowded park full of kids but you shouldn’t do it. Or fire in any building, but you definitely shouldn’t, unless the building is actually on fire. The FCC is also hiding behind the First Amendment, saying that it’s they can’t cross that freedom. In that case, then you should be allowed to regulate who gets faster internet service and who doesn’t either. If you can regulate that, you should be able to regulate what words are considered profane and which ones aren’t.

The fact of the matter is, ‘Redskin’ being the name of a team from Washington D.C makes just about as much as the KKK’s football team being named ‘The Freedom Fighters’. They could’ve easily gone with any other name, like ‘The Diplomats’, ‘The Nationals’, or ‘The Empty Promises’. My hope is one day the word ‘Redskin’ is on the list of profane words, that doesn’t honor the Native American culture. But not to worry racist white folks, eventually there will be a Native American rapper that would use that word in their rap and you can yell it at the top of your lungs in your car.