Redskins name change: A Washington D.C. council member is pressing for the Washington Redskins name to be changed.
“The term Redskins is a racist and derogatory term,” said David Grosso, 42, the council member, according to the Washington Post. He was elected in November and plans to introduce a resolution Wed. to rename the team to the Washington Redtails, while staying open to other suggestions.
“You can still sing the song and everything,” said Grosso, before singing, “Hail . . . to the . . .Redtails.”
“District residents and their elected representatives should not tolerate commercial or other use of derogatory terminology relating to any people’s racial identity, or which dishonors any person’s race, or which dishonors the name Washington,” Grosso’s resolution says.
“Washington’s name has been dishonored by association with the word ‘Redskins,’ ” the resolution states. “Because it is well known in America and in nations afar that American Indians have experienced utmost suffering and disrespect over the years.”
“A good many Americans don’t know any Indians,” says Kevin Gover, who heads the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, told CNN. “The Indian you see most often in Washington, D.C., is at a football game – at the expense of real Indians, real history, real culture. The petty stereotype has become expected.”
Redskins officials don’t want to change the name, and wouldn’t be compelled to since resolutions aren’t binding.
“Our history is something to be proud of... I don’t think you can just turn your back on that, and we don’t plan on doing that,” said general manager Bruce Allen at a hearing in early March.
Grosso has the support of eight of the council’s 13 members, according to CNN.
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