Opinion | Sports

Column: Team will never see glory with racist 'Redskins' slur

Friday, February 8, 2013

"Washington football fans will fight to keep that team name. Bless you for wanting to cling to those sweet memories. Sorry to have to tell you this, but the name will be changed because what you’re fighting for has already been lost.

Tired of seeing the team logo changing, that Indian head caricature mutating into some silhouette because deep down that team is ashamed of itself? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a team name that doesn’t make people across the country wince when they hear it? We could use a name that sportscasters don’t have to muffle the sound of by calling the team the ’Skins.

We are so hungry for a team that will pull our region together — like in the old days — that we will not even let the football season end. But it will never, ever happen again until we get rid of that name.

On Thursday, about 52 years after Bobby Mitchell broke the team’s color barrier, a symposium on the use of racist names in sports was held at the National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall. Think about it: A national museum honoring native peoples in a city whose professional football team name slurs native peoples."

Get the Story:
Courtland Milloy: Gridiron glory will never be ours again with a team named the ‘Redskins’ (The Washington Post 2/8)