What's Pejorative

A quickie comment: Jeb Bush was recently asked about the name of the NFL team that plays out of the nation’s capital. His response was a classic foot-in-mouther that we’ve all come to expect from members of the Bush family. He said that the pejorative word in the team’s name was “Washington” and not “Redskins.”

Now I’ll give Jeb! some credit. That was clever and he got to give DC a well-deserved dig but he violated a basic rule.

People who are not members of an identifiable group don’t get to have opinions on whether a label is offensive or not. White folks don’t get to say what Native Americans find insulting. Men don’t get to opine on whether a word or phrase is offensive to women. Christians don’t get to make claims about what words or slogans upset Jews.

Check with Native Americans, Jeb. Go here. You’ll find that nearly 70% of them find the term offensive.