Former NMHA president Murray Taylor doesn't think that the Redmen nickname for the Newmarket hockey teams is offensive. He believes this because it wasn't meant to be connected to First Nations people when it was adopted. According to Taylor, the Redmen nickname refers to the colour of the jersey that the team wore back in the 1930's.
Taylor is obviously wrong in his support of the Redmen nickname.
Even though NMHA may have had other intentions back in the 1930's, in the context of 2016 the term "Redmen" is very much associated with a racial slur. And First Nations people should not have to tolerate pejorative nicknames any more.
In the same 1930's, Irish immigrants were derisively called a "Mick" or a "Paddy" after the popularity of naming male babies Michael or Patrick. (The Town of Newmarket still commemorates our local "Paddy Town" with a sign on Main Street north of Davis Drive). A socially conscious person wouldn't dare use these same terms to refer to a person of Irish descent today. That's because they are offensive.
Germans were once called "Krauts" after the pickled cabbage, sauerkraut, which was once a staple of the diet of many Europeans. In 2016, calling someone a Kraut is offensive.
And Russians were pejoratively called "Comrade" during the Soviet era. We don't use that term any more because it is offensive.
Calling a sports team the "Indians", the "Redskins", or the "Redmen" in 2016 is wrong. These are all offensive, pejorative nicknames for First Nations people. Hopefully the parents who register for hockey will pressure the leaders of the NMHA to adopt a more appropriate name. I don't see how we can teach today's generation of young people to be tolerant of other cultures while we force them to wear racial epithets across their chests while playing hockey.
And while we are at it, the Town of Newmarket should take down that damn Paddy Town sign too.
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