Redskins are gone – and it looks as if we even may be going cold on Eskimo Pies

They have been on to this for years. News.com.au, June 20, 2013:

Is a Redskin an indigenous American or something to chew over … The racial overtones of Redskins lollies, featured as an ingredient on last night’s MasterChef lollybag cake challenge, revives debate over the naming conventions of some of our favourite chewy treats.

Finally nailed them seven years on. The Guardian, June 23:

The names of two products produced by Nestle will be changed … in response to concerns raised over many years that the names are racist and offensive. Nestle will change the name of its Red Skins and Chicos sweets, produced by the Australian confectionery company Allen’s.

Another one bites the dust? The Wall Street Journal, July 3:

The Washington Redskins said they are undertaking a “thorough review” of their team name amid pressure from fans and sponsors that they should abandon the moniker commonly seen as a racial slur. The move sets the stage to resolve one of sports’ most prominent battles over offensive team names. Washington will likely be renamed before the 2020 season begins, two people familiar with the matter said.

This thing’s spreading like a virus. ABC, Saturday:

The Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team also released a statement saying it would commit to “engaging with our community … to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name”. The Indians dropped the controversial Chief Wahoo logo from uniforms in 2018 …

What next? Eskimo Pies? Throw the book at them. The Guardian, June 25:

(Norma Dunning) dislikes the term (Eskimo), but caricatures of her ethnic group in popular culture, including food branding, make it the term non-indigenous people know best. Eskimo Pie, which has been around since 1921, features a smiling boy in a fur-lined parka on its packaging. “We can never get away from that image,” said Dunning, whose book, Eskimo Pie: A Poetics of Inuit Identity, just debuted.

Brand names are falling like statues. The Atlantic, July 2:

In the widespread protests that followed the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25, statues of and memorials to Confederate soldiers and generals were vandalised or torn down.

Trump’s not falling for this, as he explained with four US giants over his shoulder. Reuters, Saturday:

President Donald Trump on Friday railed against “angry mobs” that tried to tear down statues of Confederate leaders and other historical figures, warning thousands of supporters at Mount Rushmore that protesters were trying to erase US history.

Heroes? The Australian, Tuesday:

But this year even Trump’s speech backdrop, Mount Rushmore with its four presidential faces, is politically charged. Each of those presidents — Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt — is under assault for ancient sins against modern values, as progressives seek to expunge their statues and even their names from American life.

So put it all together and what have you got? An English band called the Redskins whose best known song is 1985’s Kick Over the Statues:

The first act of freedom

All over the world

Is to topple the statues

Kick the bosses over.