No More "Redskins"

"Native American Portrait". Oil on birch panel. 2013. Artist, Suzanne Lago Arthur.

Here is a portrait I painted from life in Rob Liberace's class last Spring. The model is a really interesting guy--a re-enactor who makes all his costumes by hand. It is not every day that you get to paint someone dressed up like him!

This painting makes me think of course of the current controversy regarding a suggested name change for the Washington Redskins. For the record--I completely support it. That moniker hails from the days when the colonies closely associated with Native Americans as a way to emancipate themselves from their European fore fathers. But people are not symbols. We have the Bald Eagle and the Stars and Stripes for that. Dan Snyder-get over yourself! We can no longer have an NFL franchise in the 21st Century representing our Nation's noble capitol with such a degrading name as the Washington Redskins. In this day and age when the "minorities" in this country are quickly outnumbering the majority, your position is at best insensitive. And a worst--racist.