re: ESPN should not refer to the DC football team as the Redskins

Can you link Us to some members of Native American groups expressing their concern with the name of the team?

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Can you link Us to some members of Native American groups expressing their concern with the name of the team?

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I suspect that I could, but one need not be native american to find the nickname objectionable, so I say to you: that isn't the point.

In the spirit of clarity: I don't lose sleep over this nickname; it doesn't offend me. This issue isn't very important to me; I'm only having fun in this thread. My opinion on it, in case you care to read it: If there were no Washington team, and the NFL expanded to Washington, and we were in a board meeting to discuss potential nicknames, and I brought up the name "Redskins," the name wouldn't be taken seriously, and I would be told by my boss to act professional and stop saying stupid stuff in such an important meeting. If I persisted with the name and asked earnestly why we shouldn't name the team the Redskins, every reasonable person in the room would agree that the name is racially insensitive and that it would be a grave mistake to name our team that. Therefore, any objection to the decades-old name today (which is a derivative of "Braves," which virtually none of us find offensive, but it's easy to see the obvious difference) is one that I can say is honest and conscionable, even if the objection is one of a complete blowhard. The fact is that, no matter how much this matters to an individual, the name is racially insensitive, and we would NEVER name a team that today if given the chance. That's because it's tacky.

I'm perfectly fine with the Redskins keeping their name. I'm perfectly fine with any social consequence that results from it. I'm perfectly fine with social pressure resulting in a name change. I'm perfectly fine with people being pissed about any possibility. I see it as inevitable that there will be a name change, and if I were Dan Snyder's drinking buddy, I'd say to him, "Look, it's just a stupid name, and one day it's going to change whether you like it or not. Pick your battles, and don't fight this one. Jump out ahead of it, rename the team the Merlins (a bird of prey native to Maryland and a nod to "Wizards"), keep the color scheme and the feathers, and cash the frick in and become richer than Jerry Jones."

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the racist name

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Native Americans coined the term Redskin in reference to themselves. Funny how naive you are to things like historical facts.

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historical fact- G.P. MArshall was a bigger racist than George Wallace. Changed the name from Braves to Redskins. His blatant and proud acts of racism are well documented. But hey he used the term Redskin as a nice warm term of endearment for Native Americans.

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His legacy includes the George Preston Marshall Foundation which serves the interests of children in the Washington, DC area. The $6 million he left had the qualification that none of it could be used "for any purpose which supports or employs the principle of racial integration."

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I've been trying to get the Raiders' name changed to the Oakland Ni****s but everyone in this country is too damn sensitive!

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Huh, you better replace that with some Hispanic name. Those frickers run that stadium. Wondering when did they switched from Soccer to the NFL.

This is why I sometimes strongly dislike this country's system of government. One a-hole can ruin a good thing for everyone.

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historical fact- G.P. MArshall was a bigger racist than George Wallace. Changed the name from Braves to Redskins. His blatant and proud acts of racism are well documented. But hey he used the term Redskin as a nice warm term of endearment for Native Americans.

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I don't think that Marshall's racism is even relevant today, though I do lean toward a name change myself. Though Marshall was a racist man, his choice of "Redskins" made sense on a few levels, one of which was that they had moved from Braves field, home of baseball's Braves, to Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, making it an easy A-to-B name change from Braves to Redskins. Naming the team Redskins wasn't an act of racism, and the name itself isn't inherently racist, though it is by most accounts quite racially insensitive. Being that most of us see that insensitivity, society will one day force the Redskins' hand, and a name change is inevitable. That's why I think it would be best for Snyder to jump out in front of it instead of fight a battle that he knows he will lose.