TOW#7 Redskins Controversy Article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-carpowich/solution-to-redskins-name_b_5897468.html

Recently there ha been much controversy about the name of the Washington D.C. Redskins, a NFL football team. The team’s name has been questioned because of it’s insensitive portrayal of the American Indians. The author of this article, Mark Carpowich, hopes to bring some compromise to this discrepancy. Carpowich uses anecdotes to propose a solution to this problem that the readers agree with and an allusion to a negative event to refute any arguments that could be made by the team’s owner trying to keep the name. Carpowich titles his article, “Solution to Redskins Name Controversy May Be on the 'Playground'” and in his text he talks about a recent document that surfaced that could offer closure to this problem called Playground of the Native Son. This is a film by Cilia Xavier, which tells the story of the underdog Hominy Indians who formed a football team, which beat the New York Giants in 1927. Carpowich’s solution is to rename the team after the Hominy Indian team, not only would the owner be able to keep the name, but also get free publicity from an upcoming movie on the event. In doing this he makes the audience agree with his viewpoint by appealing to logos by presenting the advantages of changing the team’s name. After Carpowich presents his solution, he refutes any counter argument that could be made by the Redskin’s owner by alluding to the case of Donald Sterling. Donald Sterling was the owner of a popular basketball team, the Los Angeles Clippers, who was videotaped calling members of his team racial slurs and was banned for life by the NBA. By alluding to this story, Carpowich presents an extreme that this controversy could be elevated to if the owner doesn’t find a compromise.