We all know about the abuse of Native Americans. Removing clearly exploitative uses of their culture in creating mascots is reasonable. It directly relates to the people, their appearance, their customs, etc.
The problem is deeming "colonial" offensive opens the door to vilifying the entire history of this country based on a specific interpretation of a broader term. If we're talking about peaceful settlers who didn't exploit or kill anyone, or maybe even coexisted with natives, then there's nothing wrong with that. Not every colonial was a murdering imperialist.
Is "Yankees" similarly loaded?
Can "Jets" be considered problematic since we've used jet planes to kill innocent people?
How about "Cowboys" since that's linked to western expansion which was the driving force behind bloody conflicts with Native American tribes in the region?
It's just going too far, imo.
