According to a USA Today article last week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell responded to a letter from U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN4) and other representatives urging the league and Redskins owner Dan Snyder to change the team's nickname because it is offensive toward Native Americans.
Goodell's response letter was dated June 5 and dated to the representatives who wrote him. McCollum's office released Goodell's letter last week. In his letter, Goodell calls the Redskins nickname "a unifying force that stands for strength, courage, pride and respect," according to the USA Today article.
From the article:
Goodell said in his letter that the team's name "from its origin represented a positive meaning distinct from any disparagement that could be viewed in some other context" and was never "meant to denigrate Native Americans or offend any group."
McCollum's response to Goodell's response:
“Unfortunately, NFL Commissioner Goodell’s letter is another attempt to justify a racial slur on behalf of Dan Snyder and other NFL owners who appear to be only concerned with earning ever larger profits, even if it means exploiting a racist stereotype of Native Americans. For the head of a multi-billion dollar sports league to embrace the twisted logic that ‘Redskin’ actually ‘stands for strength, courage, pride, and respect’ is a statement of absurdity.
“Would Roger Goodell and Dan Snyder actually travel to a Native American community and greet a group tribal members by saying, ‘Hey, what’s up redskin?’ I think not. (“Hey, what’s up redskin” is a quote from materials provided to my office by the NFL, along with the claim that “Redskins” is a “term of endearment” among Native Americans.)
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“Indian children, families and elders are Americans, and just like all racial, ethnic, or religious groups, they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, not as a demeaning caricature or mascot. That shouldn’t be too much to ask of the NFL.”
