Eni Faleomavaega: “I do not want to detract our attention from the current national debate on the government shutdown and the debt ceiling…”

“I do not want to detract our attention from the current national debate on the government shutdown and the debt ceiling issue, but I do want to share with my colleagues an issue that will not go away. What is it that the National Football League, the 32 football club owners, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell have yet to understand why the word ``redskin'' is considered a very offensive racial and derogatory term that describes Native American Indians? My apologies, Mr. Speaker, for I have yet to master the English language. But I want to share again and again with my colleagues and some 181 million football fans all over America why our Native American Indian community considers the word ``redskin'' as very offensive, and clearly, the National Football League and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell cannot and should not disclaim responsibility. Again, let's review the history. The origin of the term ``redskin'' is commonly attributed to the colonial practice of trading Native American Indian scalps and body parts as bounties and trophies. For example, in 1755, settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Province were paid out of the public treasury for the killing and scalping of people of the Penobscot tribe. The bounty for a male Penobscot Indian above the age of 12 was 50 pounds, and his scalp was worth 40 pounds. The bounty for a female Penobscot Indian of any age and for males under the age of 12 was 25 pounds while their scalps were worth 20 pounds.…”