[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 143 (Saturday, October 12, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H6559-H6560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    MEANING OF THE TERM ``REDSKIN''

  (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, not only is the word ``redskin'' 
inappropriate, but just plain offensive. It is a derogatory term 
towards the American Indians.
  I want to share with my colleagues and the 181 million football fans 
all over America how the word ``redskin'' came about.
  In 1749, it was a standard procedure among the colonial settlers who 
lived in what is now Maine and Nova Scotia to kill and scalp as many of 
the Indians who were members of the Micmac Tribe. The same policy was 
also implemented in 1755 by settlers who lived in what is now known as 
the State of Massachusetts. Their objective was to kill and scalp 
members of the Penobscot Indian Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, the colonial policy was that you get paid for killing 
and scalping Native American Indians. If you kill an Indian boy, you 
get paid 50 pounds. If you get a scalp, that is an additional 40 
pounds. Not only is it for the men, but also for the women and children 
that are scalped and killed. And you get paid for it.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit that these scalps were called ``redskins.''

[[Page H6560]]

  Native Americans are human beings, Mr. Speaker. They are not animals.

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