People ask me all the time what I think about the Redskins team name and my answer is always the same. I can see both sides clearly, so I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer.
From a personal standpoint, I am not big on hypocrisy, so if you are going to change the Redskins name, you have to change any name that is offensive to Native American groups. Also, what do you do about names like the Fighting Irish? I am not Irish, but I doubt they are all drunken fighters.
I think it is a slippery slope, you can’t be mad at the Redskins while doing the Tomhawk Chop in Atlanta or at Florida State. The President chimed in (probably not the best time considering the whole Government shutdown situation) and here is what he had to say.
President Barack Obama says that if he owned the Washington Redskins, he would “think about changing” the team name, wading into the controversy over a football nickname that many people deem offensive to Native Americans.
Obama, in an interview with The Associated Press, said team names like the Redskins offend “a sizable group of people.” He said that while fans get attached to the nicknames, nostalgia may not be a good enough reason to keep them in place.
“I don’t know whether our attachment to a particular name should override the real legitimate concerns that people have about these things,” he said in the interview, which was conducted Friday.
“I don’t want to detract from the wonderful Redskins fans that are here. They love their team and rightly so,” he said.
That is a political answer, basically playing both sides of the fence. Just remember, if you are banging the drum about the Redskins make sure you are banging the drum for all offensive sport team names.