Redskins Name Change Issue Won’t Go Away

It was just a few weeks ago when we last had this discussion. A Washington D.C. Council member was making a push to have the Washington Redskins change the name of their mascot. Now, as unbelievable as it sounds, members of congress are getting involved in the discussion in hopes of forcing the Redskins hand.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that 10 members of congress- 9 Democrats and one Republican - has sent letters to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder urging the team to change it's nickname. Snyder had indicated recently that he would never change the name of the team, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed his support of that stance.

This issue has been raised periodically over the years with Native American team mascots, and several teams, particularly on the college level have caved to the pressure and changed their name.The Redskins, on the other hand, have  repeatedly  dismissed the calls for them to make a change. The issue  doesn't seem to be going away, and now the question is how far will Congress go in the matter. Certainly they can't force the Redskins to do anything, but they could put a lot of pressure on the team that resides in the nation's capital as well as the National Football League. It always seems that issues take on a completely different feel when the federal government starts to get involved.

I stated my position here  pretty clearly a month ago when this issue was most recently raised. You can read it here if you missed it, but, in a nutshell, I have no problem with the Redskins nickname or any other Indian mascot for that matter. And so far, our readers have expressed overwhelming agreement on this issue - Indian mascots are not offensive, they have been with us for decades, leave them alone. If you would like to weigh in on the subject and take our survey on Indian nicknames click here and let us know what you think.