Congress to Redskins: Change Your Name

Ten members of Congress are urging the Washington Redskins to change their name because it is offensive to many Native Americans. The representatives have sent letters to Redskins owner Dan Snyder, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Redskins sponsor FedEx, and the other 31 NFL franchises, they said yesterday. The letter to Snyder says that "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 name is the subject of a long-running legal challenge from a group seeking to have the team lose its trademark protection, but Snyder has vowed that he will never change the name. Among the group sending the letters are the leaders of the Congressional Native American Caucus: Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Betty McCollum, D-Minn. Click for some alternate names that have been suggested for the team. (More Washington Redskins stories.)