High school football tackles the R-word

Heritage is in the eye of the beholder. That’s how the saying goes, right?

A suburban Philadelphia school district waded into a timely and touchy debate on the use of the word “Redskins” this week, ruling that a local high school newspaper couldn’t ban use of the derogatory word, which also happens to be the name of the Neshaminy High School’s football team.

The school board appeared eager to please both sides of the debate by ruling that The Playwickian, the school’s newspaper, could stop using the word in news stories, but would have to allow people writing editorials or letters to the editor the freedom to use it.

“I am very, happily surprised [the school board] came that far that they would allow us to edit it in news stories,” Gillian McGoldrick, The Playwickian’s editor-in-chief, told a local CBS affiliate. “But, I still believe that it’s not the place of the school board to tell us what we can and can’t make as a policy.”

The school board’s vote may put an end to what became a months-long controversy in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which started after the newspaper’s staff voted to ban what they call “the R-word” in October.

Their 14-7 vote catapulted the school into the middle of a nationwide debate about the use of the word, which is a popular name for sports teams across the country, including the National Football League team from Washington, D.C.

Many Native Americans consider the term offensive and have lobbied for the Washington Redskins to change its name. But team ownership and some fans argue that despite the negative connotations of the term, the history of the franchise is too important to be revised.

The controversy heated up earlier this month when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office canceled the team’s trademark, saying it was derogatory.

The debate at Neshaminy High has mirrored the national conversation.

“This is a very traditional district, rooted deeply in their heritage, and nobody in the district ever believed ‘Redskin’ was used as a derogatory, defaming term,” school board member Stephen Pirritano told CBS. “All the calls I have gotten about it have honestly been [in] support [of] our heritage, and they felt that the kids were taking the wrong position.”

Despite the partial win for the paper, the high school team will still be able to keep its name, its mascot — a man in a feather headdress — and fans will still be able to show up to the school’s game decked out in what they presumably think are artistic interpretations of traditional Native American makeup and clothing, as can be seen on the team’s Twitter page.