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Very Sensitive Man Thinks Yankees Is "Most Offensive Name In American Sports"
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 22, 2013
Modified Sep 22, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 22, 2013
Modified Sep 22, 2013
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The debate over the name of the Washington Redskins has been getting extra heated over the last few months—several major newspapers and sports columnists have vowed to abstain from using the nickname, while other columnists have used horrible analogies to defend the moniker. But only one very brave, very sensitive man has the cajones to propose changing "the most offensive name in American sports: The New York Yankees."
Jason Fornwalt wrote a letter to the Washington Post in response to the Redskins controversy by...calling for people to stop using the dreaded "Y-word." Behold his wonderful argument below:
The term “yankee” was created by the British to mock the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. It was an insult. And the history of its use — unlike Redskins — is not in dispute.
As if the term (which I will from here on refer to as the “Y-word”) wasn’t offensive enough based on its use during the Revolution, it was used again, during another war, to insult largely white Northerners. That’s right: The Confederate States of America used the Y-word as an insult as well. In fact, the Y-word is still used today in the South, to refer — usually in a disparaging manner — to Northerners.
Given the fact that the Y-word has an indisputable negative connotation throughout its history, and the fact that it’s still used as an insult today, why isn’t there a push to change it? And, ultimately, is any perceived insult about skin color, or skin thickness?
Finally, somebody is standing up for largely white Northerners. As Deadspin points out, Fornwalt neglects to note that the term was mainly used toward white people because non-whites were, ya know, slaves—and were likely called much worse things. But who knows, maybe being associated with a insulting term is just the kind of thing the Yankees—who have heartily embraced the nickname "Evil Empire"—are into.
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baseball
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racism
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yword
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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