tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/racial-slur-46428/articlesRacial slur – The Conversation2024-01-23T13:25:57Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2202052024-01-23T13:25:57Z2024-01-23T13:25:57ZHow the word ‘voodoo’ became a racial slur<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570735/original/file-20240122-20-mdblis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C3607%2C2392&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An engraving from 1992 representing a voodoo rite in Haiti.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-voodoo-in-haiti-in-1992-engraving-representing-a-voodoo-news-photo/113929671?adppopup=true"> Nicolas Jallot/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, it has been common for people to throw around terms like “voodoo politics,” “<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/voodooeconomics.asp">voodoo economics</a>,” “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/rejecting-voodoo-science-in-the-courtroom-1474328199">voodoo science</a>” and “<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/voodoo-medicine-time-to-s_b_11474550?ec_carp=6516617630977493781">voodoo medicine</a>” to reference something that they think is ridiculous, idiotic or fraudulent.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096071/">Horror movies</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0793707/">crime shows</a> often tell stories about evil “voodoo doctors” who terrorize their victims with black magic. Even Disney’s first movie with a Black princess, released in 2009, had a “voodoo doctor” as the villain. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, these shows and movies promote myths about voodoo that reinforce more than a century of stereotypes and discrimination. In my 2023 book, “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/46772">Voodoo: The History of a Racial Slur</a>,” I argue that voodoo is an extremely problematic term with a deeply racist history. </p>
<p>Most African diaspora religions, which are religions that have roots in Africa, have been mislabeled as voodoo at some point in time. This is especially true of Haitian Vodou – the religion that is most frequently stereotyped by outsiders as “voodoo” in the 21st century.</p>
<h2>Early uses of the term</h2>
<p>The term voodoo traces its roots back to a word in the Fon language in West Africa that means “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vodou">spirit” or “deity</a>.” The French adopted a version of this term, “vaudou” or “vaudoux,” to refer to African spiritual practices in their colonies in Louisiana and Saint-Domingue – modern-day Haiti. </p>
<p>Later, “vaudou” evolved into “voodoo” in the English-speaking world. It first became a household term in the U.S. in the 1860s and 1870s. When the U.S. public was <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/46772">first introduced</a> to voodoo, it was typically in newspaper articles and other publications that described African American spiritual practices in an exaggerated way, often retelling bizarre or even fabricated stories as if they were common practice. </p>
<p>Most of the time, the authors used these narratives about voodoo to argue that African Americans were unfit for citizenship, voting rights and holding public office because of their so-called superstitions. </p>
<p>In fact, the first time the term was widely used was after the Union forces seized New Orleans during the U.S. Civil War. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197689400.001.0001">Confederate supporters argued</a> that the popularity of voodoo in Union-controlled New Orleans showed the barbarity that Africans would return to if not under the control of white people. </p>
<p>Later, in the 20th century, claims about voodoo were used as one way to justify the U.S. colonization of Caribbean countries with large Black populations. In particular, fabricated <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/McClure_s_Magazine/RZZEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=voodoo+cuba&pg=PA502&printsec=frontcover">claims that Black Cubans were</a> practicing the ritual murder of children as part of their voodoo practices circulated in the media to support sending forces to the island in the 1900s and 1910s.</p>
<p>Similarly, in the early 20th century, <a href="https://archive.org/details/whereblackrulesw00pric">journalists, travelers and others falsely claimed</a> that U.S. intervention was necessary because Haitians were engaging in cannibalism, human sacrifice and snake worship as part of their voodoo rituals. Historian <a href="https://people.miami.edu/profile/2d45ee761ea7c9776e6f13729f2ebea3">Kate Ramsey</a> writes in her 2011 book, “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo10454972.html">The Spirits and the Law: Vodou and Power in Haiti</a>,” that while U.S. Marines were occupying Haiti from 1915 to 1934, they persecuted and prosecuted devotees – arresting the people they found participating in ceremonies and burning their sacred objects. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in the first half of the 20th century, references to voodoo continued to be a way to speak disparagingly about Black populations in the U.S. Even the founders of the <a href="https://ia904601.us.archive.org/19/items/the-voodoo-cult-of-detroit/The%20Voodoo%20Cult%20of%20Detroit.pdf">Nation of Islam</a> were stereotyped as a “voodoo cult” after an alleged member committed a highly publicized murder in 1932.</p>
<p>Allegations that Black Muslims practiced human sacrifice followed the group for decades, long after the person who committed the crime was determined to be legally insane and sent to an asylum. </p>
<h2>Prejudices linger</h2>
<p>This history has left a stain on public perceptions of voodoo that is difficult to wash away. The best example is the treatment of devotees of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-haitian-voodoo-119621">Vodou, a religion in Haiti</a> that can trace many of its beliefs and practices back to West and Central Africa. Vodou centers on honoring the ancestors and venerating spirits known as the Lwa. </p>
<p>Vodou was frequently labeled as “voodoo” in Anglophone newspapers and other literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and devotees were falsely accused of committing atrocities like cannibalism and human sacrifice during their ceremonies. Although Vodou has no ultimate source of evil in its cosmology, it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-haitian-voodoo-119621">often denounced</a> as devil worship. These myths have led to discrimination and violence against devotees.</p>
<p>In 2010, some Haitians and some foreigners blamed Vodou, which they often misspelled as “voodoo,” for the tragic earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak that devastated Haiti. The most famous remarks came from the late <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/01/pat_robertson_blames_haitian_d.html">Pat Robertson</a>, an Evangelical minister and political commentator, who claimed that the earthquake was God’s retribution against Haitians for holding a Vodou ceremony. He described the Vodou ceremony as a pact with the devil to assist in their revolution against the French. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570737/original/file-20240122-19-uv5o5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a wide-brimmed hat holds her hands up as she prays, with some other people in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570737/original/file-20240122-19-uv5o5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570737/original/file-20240122-19-uv5o5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570737/original/file-20240122-19-uv5o5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570737/original/file-20240122-19-uv5o5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570737/original/file-20240122-19-uv5o5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570737/original/file-20240122-19-uv5o5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570737/original/file-20240122-19-uv5o5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An old woman prays in an earthquake-damaged church in the Ti Ayiti neighborhood Feb. 23, 2010, in Cité Soleil, Haiti, after a Christian mob attacked a Haitian Vodou ceremony for earthquake victims.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/just-paces-away-from-where-a-christian-mob-attacked-a-news-photo/96989923?adppopup=true%2A%2A%2A%2A">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Within Haiti, some people <a href="https://haitiantimes.com/2020/01/12/vodou-was-once-blamed-for-the-haiti-earthquake-10-years-later-its-seeing-a-slow-revival/">committed acts of violence</a> against devotees and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934710394443">denied them the emergency aid</a> that was sent to quake victims. Later that year, violence escalated as some Haitians blamed Vodou for the cholera outbreak. In November and December of 2010, lynch mobs <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-12073029">violently killed</a> dozens of Haitian Vodou priests. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, discrimination and the violence perpetrated against Haitian Vodou and <a href="https://www.religiousracism.org/brazil">other African diaspora religious groups</a> often goes <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-1-64602-103-1.html">unpunished and unnoticed</a>. In fact, a recent survey suggests that a large portion of the U.S. public subscribes to the stereotypes about voodoo that led to these attacks.</p>
<p>With support from the Public Religion Research Institute, my fellow researchers and I <a href="https://www.prri.org/spotlight/discrimination-against-voodoo-and-santeria/">asked 1,000 adults</a> living in the U.S. whether they used the term “voodoo.” Two in 10 respondents, or about 20%, said they had used or heard others use the term at least once a month. The survey found fewer than 1 in 4 considered voodoo to be a religion. </p>
<p>Further, approximately 3 in 10 respondents believed that followers of voodoo were more likely to be involved in criminal activity than the average person, and an astonishing 64% said they believed that followers of voodoo were more likely to practice black magic or witchcraft than the average person. </p>
<p>This survey shows the pervasiveness of these biases that developed to support slavery and imperialism. Therefore, I argue that when someone makes a statement like, “That just sounds like some ‘voodoo’ to me!” they are co-signing the long racist history of the term and promoting the idea that religions from Africa are primitive, evil and barbaric.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Boaz is a public fellow with the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). In this capacity, Dr. Boaz and three other fellows received a microgrant from the PRRI to conduct the survey mentioned in this piece. </span></em></p>Shows, movies and day-to-day language promote myths about voodoo that reinforce more than a century of stereotypes and discrimination, writes a scholar of Africana studies.Danielle N. Boaz, Associate Professor of Africana Studies, University of North Carolina – CharlotteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1431702020-07-22T02:11:36Z2020-07-22T02:11:36ZEdmonton finally drops the Eskimos — and may my grandchildren never hear the E-word again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348757/original/file-20200722-17-1091hbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C25%2C3328%2C2125&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Edmonton's Canadian Football League franchise is the latest sports team to drop its racist name.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a good day in Edmonton. It’s a good day in Canada. It’s a good day for Inuit.</p>
<p>After all the years that I and other Inuit Canadians have been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-eskimos-name-change-inuk-critic-1.4401422">complaining about the name of Edmonton’s team in the Canadian Football League</a>, it’s good to know the franchise has finally decided it will no longer be known as the Eskimos.</p>
<p>It’s been a long time coming, and it has finally arrived.</p>
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<p>I’ve been an outspoken critic of Edmonton’s refusal to rename its CFL team. As an Inuit writer and researcher, this has been a very personal cause for me.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/edmonton-eskimos-is-a-racial-slur-and-its-time-to-stop-using-it-87721">Edmonton Eskimos is a racial slur and it's time to stop using it</a>
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<p>My cause lies in the names of Joel, Isaac, Ellie, Mack and Aurora — my grandchildren, who I am hoping will never have to experience the E-word. They are brilliant and beautiful children who deserve to grow up in a world where racist terms won’t harm them.</p>
<h2>Years of campaigning</h2>
<p>After years of campaigning for a name change, I wasn’t confident the team would do the right thing. </p>
<p>One of Canada’s top sports columnist said <a href="https://edmontonsun.com/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-eskimos/jones-price-of-edmonton-eskimos-name-change-would-be-sky-high">it would be “insane” to make the change now</a>, given the costs associated with rebranding the team. I heard DJs on a local radio station lamenting that there wasn’t a need for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/13/redskins-change-name-announcement/">yet another sports team to change its name</a>. </p>
<p>Through it all, I wondered why they never heard what Inuit were saying about a term we consider racist.</p>
<p>As someone who has publicly criticized the team for years, I’ve been called the b-word and the c-word, among other things. To those people who filled my Facebook page with the most horrible language and the worst name calling, all I can say is shame on you again.</p>
<p>It’s tragic to know that in 2020, there are still so very many people who will not hear the Indigenous side of an issue or who will sigh and say that they are sick of the constant change and everyone having a cause.</p>
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<img alt="A portrait of Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348767/original/file-20200722-29-10kidzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348767/original/file-20200722-29-10kidzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348767/original/file-20200722-29-10kidzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348767/original/file-20200722-29-10kidzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348767/original/file-20200722-29-10kidzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348767/original/file-20200722-29-10kidzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348767/original/file-20200722-29-10kidzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">National Inuit leader Natan Obed has been calling for a name change for Edmonton’s Canadian Football League franchise for years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span>
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<p>I am not alone in my constant campaign against the name. I stand next to <a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/trudeau-weighs-into-eskimos-name-change-debate-1.3690864">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-eskimos-name-change-don-iveson-1.4395218">Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson</a>, national Inuit leader <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/edmonton-football-team-name-change-natan-obed-1.5654989">Natan Obed</a> and artists Tanya Tagaq and Susan Aglukark.</p>
<h2>TRC head called for change</h2>
<p>Sen. Murray Sinclair has been suggesting the need for a name change since he released the Calls to Action from his Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015. The commission listed <a href="http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">several ways sports could lead to reconciliation</a>, including the promotion of anti-racism awareness in sports. It only took five years for Edmonton to pay attention.</p>
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<p>As an advocate for a name change, it’s been disturbing that the general public doesn’t understand the harm created by the E-word. They want to stay loyal to a team name instead of considering the opinions and feelings of the Inuit, the smallest Indigenous Canadian group <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-653-x/89-653-x2019003-eng.htm">that have the highest amounts of disparity</a>.</p>
<p>Ignoring those feelings suggests it’s OK that Inuit Canadians live their lives in poverty, that there <a href="https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/201918E">remains food insecurity in the Canadian North</a> based on the price of food alone and that most Inuit parents <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3402%2Fijch.v72i0.20324">eat once a day so that their children can eat three times in a day</a>. It’s OK that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/pangnirtung-crisis-crime-suicide-prevention-1.4666470">teen suicide and drug and alcohol abuse is rampant</a> and yet there are a lack of treatment centres in northern communities.</p>
<h2>The word evokes stereotypes</h2>
<p>The debate about the team name also revealed that most non-Indigenous Canadians don’t want to examine their own racism. They don’t want to think about what that E-word does to future generations of Inuit youth and small children. They don’t want to think about what the E-word makes people think of — that cute little guy in a fur-ringed parka, standing next to a seal breathing hole with a harpoon in his hand.</p>
<p>Most of Canada doesn’t want to think about how that E-word leaves Inuit Canadians in the time of long ago, as if we are not a progressive peoples who get out of bed and go to work as doctors and lawyers, nurses and teachers and who work towards a much better future for our children and the future generations that will come after us.</p>
<p>But now, at the end of a very long and sometimes hurtful campaign, I would like to thank the stakeholders and <a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/a-second-major-sponsor-of-edmonton-s-cfl-club-calls-for-team-name-change-1.5026881">sponsors of the Edmonton team for their good conscience</a> and acting on what they felt was right.</p>
<p>At the end of it all, all that matters to me is that Joel, Isaac, Ellie, Mack and Aurora will never have that word spoken to them. They are my heart. They drive my work, and I will always speak for them and all Inuit children. Ma’na. Thank you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143170/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Norma Dunning does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>First the Washington Redskins. And now the Edmonton Eskimos. It’s about time professional sports franchises recognized the harm that comes from racist team names.Norma Dunning, Professor, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1251932019-11-08T12:14:29Z2019-11-08T12:14:29ZWTF? Slurs offend young adults more than swearing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300761/original/file-20191107-10952-1mm7ae9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lizzo's hit songs include a lot of profanity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Lizzo-in-Concert-Washington-D-C-/a933243e63c54bbb88cc5d82d20aa616/107/0">Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1972, the comedian <a href="https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/james-sullivan/seven-dirty-words/9780786745920/">George Carlin</a> performed a comedy routine in which he listed the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbZhpf3sQxQ">seven words</a> you couldn’t say on television. He opined that profanity related to sexual activities, body parts and bodily functions wasn’t inherently good or bad. All words, he would say, are “<a href="https://www.lingq.com/it/lesson/george-carlin-theyre-only-words-447259/">innocent</a>.” </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300324/original/file-20191105-88387-1a4w2du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300324/original/file-20191105-88387-1a4w2du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300324/original/file-20191105-88387-1a4w2du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300324/original/file-20191105-88387-1a4w2du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300324/original/file-20191105-88387-1a4w2du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300324/original/file-20191105-88387-1a4w2du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300324/original/file-20191105-88387-1a4w2du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300324/original/file-20191105-88387-1a4w2du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The comedian George Carlin got arrested in 1972 for reciting dirty words at a Milwaukee festival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Obit-George-Carlin/f93de701d01140e7b20e29b260cccf3a/96/0">AP Photo</a></span>
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<p>But reciting those seven words in public <a href="https://markwalston.com/2012/03/18/george-carlin-utters-seven-words-and-is-arrested-for-public-obsenity/">got him arrested</a>, and when a New York radio station aired Carlin’s performance, a man listening with his young son sued. The case led to the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1977/77-528">Supreme Court ruling</a> six years later that broadcasting <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/george-carlin-and-the-supreme-court-36-years-later">profanity can constitute a public nuisance</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pJ8u7AQAAAAJ&hl=en">I’m a cognitive scientist</a> who studies language in all its manifestations, including profanity. Based on the evidence available, it appears that virtually everything about profanity has changed since the 1970s. To begin with, at least four of those previously forbidden words have become pervasive in media, in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08838150802643522">television</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2531602.2531734">social media</a>, <a href="https://jvwr-ojs-utexas.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/download/7274/6406">online gaming</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/NYT_first_said/status/1191669974831706113">newspapers</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017723689">books</a>. Even <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/politics/politicians-profanity/index.html">politicians</a> across the political spectrum are <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/457732-f-bombs-away-why-lawmakers-are-cursing-now-more-than-ever">beginning to swear</a> in more open and strategic ways than they used to. </p>
<p>All of this cursing could be alarming if you’re, say, a parent of young children, like I am. But as they’ve become more prevalent, dirty words have also lost a lot of their edge among young people.</p>
<p><iframe id="Qrha8" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Qrha8/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Becoming more common and less upsetting</h2>
<p>Every fall since 2010, I have surveyed about 100 undergraduates who take my introductory language class. I ask them how offensive words are, including “whore” “damn” and 90 others that seem unsuitable to print here.</p>
<p>Most of Carlin’s words seem less shocking today. The F-word really raised eyebrows in 1972. In 2019, it had dropped to 23rd in my survey, just ahead of “asshole.” The S-word was No. 43, just ahead of “dumb.” Only two of Carlin’s filthy words, both of which start with the letter C, even cracked the top 10. These rankings have barely budged over the past decade.</p>
<p>So why do many bad words sting young people less than they used to?</p>
<p>Partly it’s because they’re so common. People are now estimated to use an average of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1745-6924.2009.01115.x">80-90 profanities per day</a>. In the most extensive <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.126.4.0459">observational work</a> with children to date, the psychologists Kristin and Timothy Jay found the F-word and the S-word to be the most commonly used profanities by children under the age of 13. So it’s no shock that these words would lose their impact. </p>
<p>But this doesn’t mean young people find nothing offensive. </p>
<p>Specifically, they don’t like slurs.</p>
<p>For example, the second-most-offensive word according to the undergrads taking my survey this year is a different F-word – a three-letter slur used to disparage LGBTQ people. No. 4 is the R-word – a six-letter slur used against people with intellectual disabilities. These are among a host of slurs that even mental health professionals <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10504/38948">once used without compunction</a> but that young adults like my students now reject.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300528/original/file-20191106-12455-v5th23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300528/original/file-20191106-12455-v5th23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300528/original/file-20191106-12455-v5th23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300528/original/file-20191106-12455-v5th23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300528/original/file-20191106-12455-v5th23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300528/original/file-20191106-12455-v5th23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300528/original/file-20191106-12455-v5th23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300528/original/file-20191106-12455-v5th23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The large number of vulgar words in transcripts of President Nixon’s taped conversations shocked the public.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Foul-Mouthed-Politicians/04661ecebcea419895fbd9f22dd94e0a/1/0">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Causing harm</h2>
<p>Many hands have been wrung, and frequently, at the prospect that swearing might harm young minds. Fortunately, as I explain in “<a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/benjamin-k-bergen/what-the-f/9780465060917/se">What the F</a>,” a book, children who are exposed to these words exhibit no measurable cognitive, emotional or physical harm as a consequence.</p>
<p>Now, I have to place a bulky caveat here. Ethical concerns prohibit randomized controlled trials, in which children are exposed to gushers of Carlin-worthy profanity. So scholars have to infer from what happens once those children become adults, when we can measure the relationship – if there is any – between their own swearing and their emotional and cognitive lives.</p>
<p>On the cognitive side, swearing fluency in young adults is associated with <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2014.12.003">having a bigger vocabulary</a>. People who curse more also <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-swearing-a-sign-of-a-limited-vocabulary/">rate higher on “intellect” as a personality trait</a> than those who generally watch their language.</p>
<p>One study, conducted by a team led by Brigham Young University family life professor Sarah Coyne, did suggest that adolescents who use more profanity are more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-1062">behave aggressively</a>. But this correlation is most likely due to aggression causing profanity use rather than the reverse. </p>
<p>Slurs, on the other hand, do appear to cause harm. When a team of psychologists tracked <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0272431606294839">middle school students</a>, they found that more exposure to homophobic slurs left children feeling less connected to their school and exhibiting increased symptoms of anxiety and depression. But, because that research didn’t control all factors involved, it’s possible that the negative emotional outcomes were caused by something the study didn’t look at, not the slurs.</p>
<p>Other researchers, however, has demonstrated that slurs can make people exhibit more prejudicial behavior. Teams led by social psychologist <a href="https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/fabio-fasoli">Fabio Fasoli</a>, for example, exposed undergraduates to either a slur for homosexuals or a neutral term. Then they asked the students to allocate hypothetical funds to a variety of causes. Those who had seen the slur decided to allocate less money to HIV-AIDS prevention efforts for “high risk groups.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300326/original/file-20191105-88414-fofi23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300326/original/file-20191105-88414-fofi23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300326/original/file-20191105-88414-fofi23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300326/original/file-20191105-88414-fofi23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300326/original/file-20191105-88414-fofi23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300326/original/file-20191105-88414-fofi23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300326/original/file-20191105-88414-fofi23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300326/original/file-20191105-88414-fofi23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Words like ‘queer’ are no longer the slurs they once were.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/LGBTQ-Pride/48862b42dca54b34af9ac9ef08dc1b20/290/0">AP Photo/Tina Fineberg</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fading away</h2>
<p>Even as some slurs have become more offensive, others have arguably lost their sting.</p>
<p>Words like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0956797613482943">gay, dyke and queer</a> have become less offensive because the people who they used to disparage have adopted them to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.02.009">express confidence or pride in their identity</a>.</p>
<p>Other pejorative terms have faded away. Many <a href="http://www.rsdb.org/races">ethnic slurs like “dago</a>,” used at one point in time to disparage people of Italian and sometimes Spanish descent, and “kraut,” a derogatory way to refer to Germans and German-Americans, seem to have disappeared from youth consciousness entirely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Bergen has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.</span></em></p>A cognitive scientist observes that the words that bother college-age Americans today can cause harm.Benjamin Bergen, Professor of Cognitive Science; Director of the Language and Cognition Lab, University of California, San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/941792018-03-29T11:02:39Z2018-03-29T11:02:39ZJail time for South African woman using racist slur sets new precedent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212631/original/file-20180329-189807-rcwqg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African court rules that racism is a criminal offence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A South African estate agent Vicky Momberg was caught on video <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/vicki-momberg-sentenced-to-an-effective-2-years-in-prison-for-racist-rant-20180328">verbally abusing </a> a black policeman. She used the word <a href="http://thelawthinker.com/south-africa-calling-people-kaffirs-is-a-crime/">‘kaffirs’</a> repeatedly during her tirade against men who were trying to assist. The word is deeply offensive and considered the most racist in South Africa. The state brought a case of crimen injuria against Momberg and a court has sentenced her to three years in jail (one suspended). This makes her the first person in the country to be jailed for this offence. Thabo Leshilo asked legal experts Penelope Andrews, René Koraan and Chantelle Feldhaus to explain the significance of the judgment.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>What is the significance of the judgment?</strong> </p>
<p><em>Penelope Andrews:</em> The significance of the judgment is substantive and symbolic. It’s substantive in that the crime committed by the accused is punished severely. Symbolically it sends a message that racism is not to be tolerated. In fact, one could go so far as to say that the law establishes that anyone using the “k” word publicly to abuse and humiliate will be severely punished.</p>
<p><em>René Koraan and Chantelle Feldhaus:</em> Past cases indicate that the verbal form of crimen injuria is not that serious. But the Momberg sentence is a first of its kind in South Africa. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment of which one year was suspended for a period of three years, on condition that she did not commit crimen injuria again. In effect this means that Momberg will serve two years imprisonment.</p>
<p><strong>What is crimen injuria in South Africa and its basis?</strong></p>
<p><em>Penelope Andrews:</em> According to <a href="http://www.loot.co.za/product/jonathan-burchell-principles-of-criminal-law/vjmg-3196-g260?PPC=Y&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8JyXxJGR2gIV6JztCh3eDwyiEAAYAiAAEgIBIfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">principles of criminal law</a> crimen injuria consists in unlawfully and intentionally impairing the dignity or privacy of another person.</p>
<p><em>René Koraan and Chantelle Feldhaus:</em> South Africa’s criminal law system is based on common law and statutory law. Common law offences include abduction, arson, bigamy, fraud, incest, housebreaking, rape, robbery, and treason. Statutory crimes include crimes such as tax fraud and prevention of organised crime.</p>
<p>Crimen injuria (or iniuria) is a crime under the South African common law, defined as the act of <a href="https://www.saps.gov.za/faqdetail.php?fid=9">“unlawfully and intentionally impairing the dignity or privacy of another.”</a>.</p>
<p>Crimen injuria provides the basis of protecting the constitutional right to human dignity in criminal prosecutions. It can happen either verbally or by deed. Importantly, crimen injuria should be distinguished from criminal defamation which has to do with the good name or reputation of a person. Both the right to privacy and dignity are protected in different sections of the <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng.pdf">Constitution of the Republic of South Africa</a>.</p>
<p>To determine if a person’s dignity was impaired the victim should, firstly, have been aware of what the accused was doing to them and secondly, the victim should have felt degraded or humiliated because of what the accused did to them. This is also objectively determined by the court. The court then considers whether a reasonable person in the same circumstances of the accused would also have felt humiliated or degraded by the conduct of the accused.</p>
<p>It seems that currently, the most serious form of verbal crimen injuria is the use of the word <em>kaffir</em>. It is evident from case law that calling a police officer the ‘k’-word in South Africa is regarded as serious enough to warrant criminal proceedings.</p>
<p><strong>How does it differ from hate speech?</strong> </p>
<p><em>Penelope Andrews:</em> Crimen injuria is a criminal offence. Hate speech is a civil offence. Rather, it’s prohibited in the constitution as well as legislation that protects people against <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2000-004.pdf">unfair discrimination</a>. Hate speech also has a very specific definition, whereas (crimen inuria) is arguably more broadly defined.</p>
<p><em>René Koraan and Chantelle Feldhaus:</em> The Constitution promotes free speech, but that doesn’t extend to hate based on “race”, ethnicity, gender or religion. South Africa is also a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.aspx">All Forms of Racial Discrimination</a>, which requires countries to make racial superiority or hatred punishable by law.</p>
<p>South Africa has drafted a new bill to cover this. <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/hcbill/hatecrimes.html">The hate-speech bill</a> being considered by parliament provides for the criminal prosecution of people who commit the offences of hate crime and hate speech. It defines hate speech as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>an intentional communication (including speech) that advocates hatred or is threatening, abusive or insulting towards any other person or group of persons; ranging from race and gender to social origin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to the bill, a guilty first offender may receive a maximum of three years prison sentence and up to ten years for a subsequent conviction.</p>
<p><strong>What are the implications of the precedent-setting judgment?</strong> </p>
<p><em>Penelope Andrews:</em> There may be several implications. First, the judgment is a clear statement that the use of racial slurs and the impairment of human dignity will not be tolerated. One could argue that there is now an unequivocal zero tolerance for the use of the “k” word. </p>
<p>Second, the implication may be that all kinds of racial slurs, that involve not just anti-black hatred, but also anti-semitic, xenophobic, anti-female and homophobic slurs, will not be tolerated. </p>
<p>The third implication is that there is a strong sensitising and educational effect. The airwaves and social media have already been abuzz with commentary since the sentence was passed. Crimen injuria has become a household term as people argue about the law’s meaning, the punishment, what constitutes (crimen inuria) and whether the judgment was fair.</p>
<p><em>René Koraan and Chantelle Feldhaus:</em> The court sent a message that racism is not just inappropriate, but it is criminal. The hope must be that the penny drops for South Africans that their actions carry big repercussions. The judgment and the sentence highlight the fact that South Africa needs to put hate crime legislation in place. It’s already at an advanced stage but it needs to be promulgated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Past cases indicate that verbal crimen injuria is not that serious. But a landmark sentence in South Africa has changed that.Penelope Andrews, Dean of Law and Professor, University of Cape TownChantelle Feldhaus, Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, North-West UniversityRené Koraan, Senior Lecturer: Criminal Law, North-West UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/877212017-11-17T22:35:44Z2017-11-17T22:35:44ZEdmonton Eskimos is a racial slur and it’s time to stop using it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195361/original/file-20171120-18566-zl0g9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cory Watson of the Edmonton Eskimos reacts to losing to the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL West Final on Sunday. The word Eskimo signals negative and archaic stereotypes and is considered by most Inuit to be a racial slur.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Edmonton Eskimos had a big football game Sunday and thousands of people in my hometown who hoped their team would make it to the Grey Cup were <a href="http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-eskimos/edmonton-eskimos-fall-short-in-west-final-to-stampeders/wcm/b8b0aa20-469d-4476-a24b-d27d30493bab">ultimately disappointed</a>. But when I think of my city’s Canadian Football League team, I have a different hope — that it will soon stop using the word “<em>Eskimos</em>.”</p>
<p>The use of the <em>Eskimos</em> name has been a recurring issue for the past few years, especially since Natan Obed, national Inuit leader for Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, <a href="http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674natan_obed_why_the_name_edmonton_eskimos_harms_inuit/">called for the elimination of the name</a> as part of his organization’s ongoing fight against colonization in the name of reconciliation.</p>
<p>“The colonial legacy of naming is about power and control,” said Obed. “The issue of Inuit being used as a sports team mascot matters, because this is the way this legacy continues to play out in popular culture.” </p>
<p>As an Inuit scholar and writer, I have also spoken on this topic several times, both <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/inuit-canadians-have-bigger-issues-than-eskimos-team-name-norma-dunning-1.3351388">with the media</a> and <a href="http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/titles/886-9781772122978-annie-muktuk-and-other-stories">within my own work.</a></p>
<p>The Edmonton Eskimos are an institution and, like most institutions, want to appear as though they are helping and respecting the less fortunate or the underdogs of society. The Edmonton football team has said they use their name with pride. In fact, they are disrespecting and suppressing Inuit peoples. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195269/original/file-20171117-19278-zfcg75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195269/original/file-20171117-19278-zfcg75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195269/original/file-20171117-19278-zfcg75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195269/original/file-20171117-19278-zfcg75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195269/original/file-20171117-19278-zfcg75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195269/original/file-20171117-19278-zfcg75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195269/original/file-20171117-19278-zfcg75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Natan Obed called upon the CFL to stop using the word ‘Eskimo.’ Here he speaks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they overlook Iqaluit, Nunavut in February 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By using the word <em>Eskimos</em>, they are perpetuating the ideas that go along with the word. Firstly, the word Eskimo word is not used by my peoples, and secondly, they are perpetuating the concept that Inuit do not have the abilities required for present-day modern living. </p>
<p>I live in Edmonton — a city that presents itself as being progressive and modern. So why continue to use a term circulated by anthropologists hundreds of years ago? </p>
<p>More importantly, why continue to make use of a word that is considered to be — by the people most affected — a racial slur?</p>
<p>In my creative work, when I make use of the word <em>Eskimo</em> it is to bring attention to the ongoing colonization of Inuit peoples in Canada. Sadly, most of the Canadian population has been indoctrinated into the grand narrative of our country’s history in which Aboriginal Canadians are absent. </p>
<p>Therefore, the general population is led to believe the word <em>Eskimo</em> is harmless. This is <a href="https://theconversation.com/media-portrays-indigenous-and-muslim-youth-as-savages-and-barbarians-79153">rhetoric, constantly generated by media</a>, to an audience that is uninformed or misinformed about the truth of Inuit existence in Canada.</p>
<h2>Economic disparity</h2>
<p>The issue is not only about the use of a word, it is also about the disparity that Inuit Canadians live within on a daily basis. It is about Inuit as the smallest group of Aboriginal Canadians, holding the rank of first place in all the statistics that point to poverty, food scarcity and high attrition rates in high school. </p>
<p>Painful and abusive rhetoric has both emotional and financial costs. From where I stand, “The Edmonton Eskimos” have done very well financially off of the word <em>Eskimo</em>. However, I do not see where the team or the CFL has given back to Inuit Canadians as a whole.</p>
<p>Inuit are contributing citizens of Canada. We have always paid full taxes. We do not receive any form of individual payment for the resources that are harvested within the northern areas of Canada. </p>
<p>Any profits received from the resources that Canada or a foreign industry pay for the right to harvest, is placed into a heritage trust account, ensuring that Inuit history and language is sustained into future generations. </p>
<p>The public may think that a land claims agreement represents a huge payout to Inuit in the north, but it does not. It represents an agreement that places the federal government into a position of fulfilling a fiduciary obligation towards the people whose land and resources they wanted. </p>
<h2>True ways to reconciliation</h2>
<p>My opposition of the use of the word <em>Eskimo</em> by a major football team is not just about cultural appropriation.</p>
<p>Eliminating the use of the word <em>Eskimo</em> is about the empowerment and respect required and demanded by Inuit Canadians.</p>
<p>I heard on <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/programs/albertaatnoon/alberta-noon-friday-november-10-1.4400322">CBC Calgary</a> that a small social media survey was taken within the northern areas of Canada where the response was in favour of the word, <em>Eskimo.</em> I also believe that if one Inuit person says, “I don’t mind it. That’s what we are!” the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/inuit-edmonton-eskimos-support-1.4405408">media and the institutions that hold power will feel justified in how they use the word</a>. </p>
<p>Last week, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3864746/12-of-albertans-say-edmonton-eskimos-name-is-unacceptable-poll/">Global News reported on a national survey</a> which found only 21 per cent of Canadians believed the <em>Eskimos</em> team name to be unacceptable. In Alberta, that number was just 12 per cent. But this was a poll of only 1,005 people. Clearly, media can present information that leaves out important facts, and does not give a true representation of an issue. Perhaps this can be interpreted as yet another way an institution protects itself. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195277/original/file-20171117-11454-1oqm42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195277/original/file-20171117-11454-1oqm42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195277/original/file-20171117-11454-1oqm42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195277/original/file-20171117-11454-1oqm42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195277/original/file-20171117-11454-1oqm42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1238&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195277/original/file-20171117-11454-1oqm42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1238&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195277/original/file-20171117-11454-1oqm42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1238&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this image from 2005, athlete Samuel Peter from Alaska competes in the one-foot high kick event - one of the traditional competitions held during the Arctic Games.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/ Al Grillo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Another issue is some non-Inuit may feel that by supporting a football team named the <em>Eskimos</em>, they have somehow engaged with Inuit culture or are supporting an Aboriginal group. But Inuit never invented or played football traditionally. Inuit traditional sport is more complex, requiring an intersection of finesse and skill. </p>
<p>Perhaps becoming involved in the Arctic Games, or informing oneself on what Inuit culture is, could be a form of personal reconciliation that mainstream society could take up.</p>
<p>I speak from what I know. What I know is the name of a football team generates a great deal of passion and energy. I would like to see that passion and energy from the fans and general public put into the social justice issues that the Inuit represent. If that happened, what a beautiful world we would live in.</p>
<p><em>Inuttigut</em>. We the Inuit: We are here.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Norma Dunning does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The use of the word Eskimos for a Canadian football team needs to end. It signals negative stereotypes and is considered by most Inuit to be a racial slur.Norma Dunning, PhD candidate, Department of Educational Policy Studies, Indigenous Peoples Education, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.