From the Desk

The Washington Redskins football team is currently fighting a battle, the results of which will have lasting effects on the organization, and it cannot be settled on the field.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder now finds himself fighting to save his organization’s image – and his pocketbook for that matter – after Native American groups called the team’s nickname offensive and asked for it to be changed.

“We’ll never change the name,” Snyder said in a USA Today article earlier this year. “It’s that simple. NEVER – you can use caps.”

Although many Redskins fans and former players have voiced their desire for the name to remain the same, not everyone involved with the situation agrees with Snyder.

Some members of the media, such as Sports Illustrated’s Peter King and USA Today’s Christine Brennan, have chosen to stop using the name altogether. Even President Barack Obama shared his thoughts on the topic.

“I don’t think there are any Redskins fans that mean offense,” Obama said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I’ve got to say, if I were the owner of the team … I’d think about changing it.”

Clearly, the issue has divided many groups of people, regardless of whether or not they identify themselves as sports fans. Unfortunately for those in support of a change, the decision is not up for debate, and only Snyder has the power to decide whether or not enduring the costly process of changing the Redskins name is the best option.

I have never met Snyder, but I agree with Obama’s statement that he and other Redskins fans probably do not mean to offend anyone. In a perfect world, both sides would be able to come to an agreement that would repair the team’s relationship with the Native American community and allow the Redskins organization to embrace its past, but that solution just does not exist.

Americans of different cultural backgrounds have fought for centuries for their right to be considered equal to one another. I firmly believe that Snyder has the right to call his football team whatever he wants to, but what kind of message is being sent when a team that represents our nation’s capital refuses to change a name that obviously shows what some think as disrespect for a group of Americans?

If Snyder ever does decide to change the name, he can expect tons of complaints from disappointed fans, but people forget quickly. Whether it takes three years or 30, fans will grow to love their team’s new identity. That is a small price to pay for not being known as the team that thinks a name on a jersey is more important than an entire group of people.