Let me get my biases out of the way. Yes, I live twenty minutes from D.C. but no, I hate the Redskins. Yes ... I said, hate. Why? They have so much fan loyalty and how do they finish each season: More Losses than Wins. I blame the management on many levels and the fact that buying hyped-up players like RGIII doesn't change anything. Being more serious, I cannot stand, the owner of the Redskins, Dan Snyder's adamant response to changing the Redskins name. The Redskins have had more recent backlash about their name and their trademark from members of congress, the President and groups representing Native American tribes. What surprised me was Snyder's vocal audacity as he said "We'll never change the name. It's that simple. NEVER -- you can use caps".

The NFL commissioner, Dan Goodell and Synder have previously cited, in their defense, a poll that a majority of Americans believe that the name should be kept. Statistics can be flawed, though I am not saying that this specific poll is flawed. I am saying that statistics also say the average person has one testicle. Statistics can be construed by whomever wants to use it and however they want to use it. In the Redskins' defense, they also believe that their usage of the word "redskins" is not disparaging or used in an offensive way because it's their team name. That is not a sustainable argument because of the racist past that is held with the word. The founder and owner of the Washington Redskins, George Marshall believed in exploiting the Indian motif to the fullest. He did not uphold Native Americans in a positive, courageous connotation but rather a primal and bestial motif about Native Americans. That the Redskins would, as in their old fight song would say, "Romp'em, stomp'em, We want wampum, Scalp 'em, swamp 'um We will take 'um big score". It doesn't matter if the majority of the public agree but rather, would we name another sports team the White-skins, or the Black-skins or after any skin color? Respecting Native Americans would be talking about the values that make them strong, brave and courageous. That is an old fight song and the team did change it but not because it is still a reminder that in the past, Redskins were not the most racially sensitive. Most of the all, this is the team that represents Washington D.C. and the area around it. This city should be at the heart of being politically correct. The term Redskins is considered a slur and that since about the nineteenth century, it has been considered a derogatory term. If it is found to be offensive to some Native Americans, it should be enough reason to use the term.

But yet again, money gets right in the way of things such as being politically correct. The Washington Redskins are the NFL's third most valuable franchise and it wouldn't be without their strong fan loyalty. Their fan loyalty has been the reason why RGIII had the highest selling single season jersey in NFL history . So when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revoked the Redskins trademark, it allows anyone to make any Redskins jersey without copyright infringement or any criminal penalties. The franchise could potentially lose a lot of money as long as this decision is not overturned by the courts. Not only for the team but this decision would devalue any company interested in becoming the official sponsor of the Washington Redskins. But this a fair punishment and lenient if you will, considering that for eighty years the Redskins have been financially profiting at the expense of the image of Native Americans.

Since the beginning of the team, the Redskins have extensively misappropriated the Native Americans and their culture to a primal and beastly depiction. The etymology of the word “Redskins” is the basis of this argument and to what makes a slur. This raises the idea of what exactly is a slur and what is the etymology of the word. The name “Redskins” originally used by Native American tribal chiefs who were making negotiations between white traders, as a distinction between both parties. The phrase became more popular after James Fennimore Cooper used the word in his book, The Pioneers. This portrayal was in a respectful manner as he spoke about the daily life of early Americans including pioneers and Native Americans. Throughout the 1800s, the usage became more prevalent among Native Americans and whites, especially those sympathetic toward Native American struggles. Later that century the work took on "negative, increasingly violent connotation" by those of Frank L. Baum and reporters like J. Gordon Hylton. In 1915, Earl Simmons used the term “redskins” in the Redskins Rimes, a series of poems, songs, and speeches that were “each more offensive than the last”. This was a turning point where the term “redskins” started to become a derogatory term and continue this trend of insensitivity. It started showing up in movies, songs, and in the popular culture of the time. It did start to fade in the nineteen sixties during the Native American Civil Rights Movement. During this time, it was when the Redskins had some trouble and held out to be the last team in the NFL to integrate their team. There is no other explanation as to how the word "redskins" became offensive other than the negative connotation of the context when the word was used. The context that Native Americans were inferior to whites and that they were not as intelligent, not as civilized or not as "American" as whites were. This racial superiority is existent when people like Earl Simmons use the word, and it barbarizes the Native Americans to characteristics of savagery and bestiality.

[1] http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/redskins/2013/05/09/washington-redskins-daniel-snyder/2148127/

[2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/football-insider/wp/2014/01/31/nfl-is-listening-to-those-who-oppose-redskins-name-roger-goodell-says/

[3] http://espn.go.com/page2/wash/s/closer/020315.html

[4] http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanriper/2013/06/14/why-the-washington-redskins-will-never-change-their-name/

[5] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/04/09/rgiii-jersey-sets-single-season-sales-record/

[6] http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11102096/us-patent-office-cancels-washington-redskins-trademark

[7] http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/09/09/220654611/are-you-ready-for-some-controversy-the-history-of-redskin