This week, 49 Democratic members of the U.S. Senate sent a letter to the National Football League, urging it to find a new name for the Washington Redskins.
No need to check your calendar. It is actually 2014 and we are actually discussing a professional sports team called the Redskins.
The team's owner defends the name on the grounds that it is part of the team's tradition. The NFL continues to shamefully sit on its hands because the name is intended to "present a strong, positive and respectful image."
Never mind that the Redskins' first owner, George Preston Marshall, was an unapologetic racist who led the charge to keep black players out of the NFL.
Never mind that the term redskin was never meant to be anything but a slur to dehumanize and put down a group
already the target of institutional racism, forced migration and genocide. That isn't a tradition or intent worth preserving.
Critics will point out that many pro and amateur sports teams have names borrowed from First Nations - Chiefs, Indians, Eskimos, Braves, Blackhawks and others. Should they too change their names as the winds of "political correctness" blow? Yes.
Opposing the supposed tyranny of political correctness is largely the rallying cry of racists who sulk that their oldworld, ignorant views about race are no longer accepted.
All of these names have the effect of taking a people and reducing them to a caricature for the purpose of entertainment without a degree of respect for those affected.
Racial slurs belong in the dustbin of history, not on sports jerseys.
