Washington Redskins' Name May Be Illegal, Say Lawmakers

What?

A Minnesota Democrat is among 10 members of Congress urging the National Football League and the Washington Redskins to change the team's name.

The Redskins got their name in 1932 and haven't changed it. But the bi-partisan Native American Caucus in the US House — co-chaired by Minnesota's U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum — says the name is not only racist, it might violate the law.

For Washington Redskins fan Patrick Wilson, the name of his favorite football team reflects history, not race.

"When I hear that name, it means nothing but positive things for me personally," said Wilson, a lifetime Redskins fan and east coast transplant to Minnesota. "Only from the football perspective. That's the only way I think of it. I don't look at it outside that perspective."

McCollum disagrees.

"That is a racist comment," said McCollum.

Comments

[ToiletsonIce]

Not that this story even merits comment, but...with all of the treaties that have been broken between American Indians and the U.S. government and with all of the requests to at least partially honor those treaties that are probably languishing in the sacred halls of our capitol, you'd think that Rep. McCollum would have bigger fish to fry. When *some* of the ancestors of white people in this country tried to exterminate or marginalize American Indians throughout history, that was racism. The name of a football team? Eh, more archaic than anything.