Redskins President: Won’t Change Name But Harry Reid Should Come To A Game

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pauses befmore speaking to a room of low-wage workers during an event to urge approval for raising the minimum wage, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 3, 2014. ... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pauses befmore speaking to a room of low-wage workers during an event to urge approval for raising the minimum wage, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 3, 2014. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS

The president of the Washington Redskins simultaneously rejected calls to change the team’s name while simultaneously inviting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to a game.

“I hope you will attend one of our home games, where you would witness first-hand that the Washington Redskins are a positive, unifying force for our community in a city and region that is divided on so many levels,” Redskins president Bruce Allen wrote in a letter to Reid on Friday.

Reid and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) led about 50 senators urging the franchise to change the team’s name, citing Donald Sterling’s racist comments.

“The despicable comments made by Mr. Sterling have opened up a national conversation about race relations,” Reid and the other senators wrote. “We believe this conversation is an opportunity for the NFL to take action to remove the racial slur from the name of one of its marquee franchises.

In his response, Allen defended the team’s name saying the “the term Redskins originated as a Native American expression of solidarity” and “an overwhelming majority of Native Americans do not find the name offensive.”

Read the letter here.

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  1. A letter signed by 50 Democratic Senators means nothing to the racists. The owner of the Washington NFL team would walk across the bones of Native Americans to win a Superbowl, without blinking.

  2. It’s not that difficult. The Warriors or Potomacs would honor the local American Indians and they wouldn’t even have to change the logo.

    Abe Pollin did it with the Wizards, who used to be the Bullets. Not a big deal.

  3. So…uh…couldn’t the team still be a positive force in the community WITHOUT a racially insensitive name?

  4. Avatar for jinnj jinnj says:

    “an overwhelming majority of Native Americans do not find the name offensive”

    please sir, could we see the true & complete documentation for this because it just sound preposterous.

  5. Other than the voices in your head, how do you know the owner, president, or anyone else in the Redskin’s organization is a racist?

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