A call for the NFL’s Washington Redskins to change their name is picking up steam again in Washington, with the announcement last month that 10 members of Congress spoke out against the franchise’s mascot.
In a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodel, the lawmakers deemed the team’s name and its mascot a “racial, derogatory slur.”
The fight against the Redskins name has been long and arduous for Native Americans who have been actively pushing for it to be changed for decades. Meanwhile, Redskins executives remain adamant about maintaining the tradition inherent in their name and mascot, and say it would be incredibly difficult to change.
Suzan Shown Harjo is a Native American activist who filed a lawsuit against the team in 1992, which was won and then later overturned. Gabe Feldman is the director of Tulane University’s Sports Law Program.
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