The day before House Republicans passed a budget, Democratic House members were pushing towards changing the name of the Redskins.
Your taxpayer dollars hard at work.
Democratic House members introduced a bill on Wednesday that would give the Washington Redskins football team an incentive to choose another name, because according to the the bill’s sponsors, “Redskins” is offensive to Native Americans.
The bill, the Non-Disparagement of American Indians in Trademark Registrations Act of 2013, would strip “Redskins” of its trademark, so the team could no longer collect profits from businesses selling merchandise with the Redskins logo.
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said she co-sponsored the bill “as an African-American who knows what it feels like to be called disparaging names” as reported by WTOP.
While Norton claims she’s a “terrific fan of the Redskins,” she’s “never been a fan of their name.”
Before proposing the legislation, both Norton and Rep. John Louis (D-Ga.) asked the Washington Redskins to change the name on its own, but Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen has already announced repeatedly he will not change the name willingly.
While this bill is not expected to pass, federal judges could decide to ban the trademark regardless. A group of Native Americans brought the case in front of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board earlier this month.
“I didn’t sign onto this bill because I expected it to be rushed to the floor tomorrow,” Norton told WTOP. “I signed on to the bill as a statement of solidarity with American Indians.”
Back in 2004, 90 percent of Native Americans said they found the name “Redskins” acceptable, according to a University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey.
Sports teams using Native American names has been a source of controversy for years. In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association deemed 31 college team names and mascots “hostile or abusive.” Any college that used Indian as its name or mascot was forced to change it.
Last fall, the Washington City Paper decided to boycott the term “Redskins” and attempted to rename the team “The Pigskins,” but it hasn’t seemed to have caught on.
Someone just needs to tell them: “Stop trying to make ‘Pigskins’ happen; it’s not going to happen.”
