Red-Men sounds like an ethnic slur, regardless of what its original intent was.
I have been thinking for a while that maybe the Edmonton Eskimos ought to change their name. They could keep the uniforms and EE logo and everything else... but if the name is considered an ethnic slur, then I think it's time to move on. If it was "the McGill Darkies" or "the Edmonton Fightin' Kikes", nobody would hesitate a moment. "Red-Men" and "Eskimos" don't evoke the same discomfort, but maybe they should.
It's sometimes interesting to look back and see if our views have changed.
Here is another message I wrote on this topic a while back:
Following the sports team thought for a moment... how do the following names and logos make you feel?
Washington Redskins
Florida Seminoles
Edmonton Eskimos
Cleveland Indians
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
With the Eskimos, even though they have long removed anything aboriginal-related from the branding, the name itself is considered an ethnic slur against Inuit, akin to referring to Jews as Kikes or Italians as Wops. I think obviously there'd be a lot of discomfort if somebody named their pro sports team "the Brooklyn Wops". The Redskins is similar. Not sure how I feel about the logo... it's obviously a depiction of a historical Native American, but I'm not sure it's an offensive depiction. The Cleveland Indians logo is pretty clearly offensive.
All of the above have caused some amount of controversy, and I can understand the reasons why. With the Florida Seminoles, I find neither the name nor the logo offensive. I've never actually heard of any controversy involving the Florida Seminoles, and I included it here because I thought maybe it might be an example of something where the line is harder to describe. And the same with the Fighting Irish logo... is it actually offensive to Irish people?
-k