Redskins Name Change Draws Support From 10 Members of Congress
The controversy surrounding the name of the NFL's Washington Redskins took another turn recently, as several members of Congress sent a signed letter to the team's owner urging that the name be changed.
10 members of Congress sent the letter requesting Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change the name of his lucrative NFL franchise because of its negative connotations to the Native American community.
The Congress members revealed Tuesday that letters have been sent to Snyder, Redskins sponsor FedEx, 31 NFL franchises and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
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"Native Americans throughout the country consider the 'R-word' a racial, derogatory slur akin to the 'N-word' among African Americans or the 'W-word' among Latinos," the 10 members of Congress wrote in the letter.
As the controversy continues to brew over the derogatory nature of the naming of the Redskins, the team's quarterback, Robert Griffin III, previously complained that America is being held hostage by political correctness.
"In a land of freedom we are held hostage by the tyranny of political correctness," Griffin previously posted on Twitter.
He then followed up with another tweet that offered a definition of tyranny. "Tyranny – 'a condition imposed by some outside agency or force.'"
A recent Associated Press-GfK poll highlighted that "Redskins" still enjoyed broad support nationally. The poll, which was conducted from April 11-15, included interviews with 1,004 adults via land lines and cellphones. It also has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
