Citing racism, and the recent suspension of the owner of L.A. Clippers for racial slurs, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid today called on the National Football League to change the name of Washington Redskins franchise:
Reid applauded NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for his "work to swiftly move to stamp out bigotry in its ranks," and said the league has set a new standard for how professional sports leagues should respond to racism. He then suggested that the NFL should take notice.
"How long will the NFL continue to do nothing -- zero -- as one of its teams bears a name that inflicts so much pain on Native Americans?" Reid asked.
He added later that it is "untoward" for Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to claim that keeping the current team name is part of the Native American "tradition."
"Tradition? What tradition?" he asked. "A tradition of racism is all that name leaves in its wake. Mr. Snyder knows that in sports, the only tradition that matters is winning. So I urge Daniel Snyder to do what is morally right and remove this degrading term from the league by changing his team's name."
Reid cited other
sports franchises who have changed their names in order to not have their franchise associated with things such as gun violence, etc.