White Guy 'Honors' Native Americans

Let's just get this fact out of the way:  Dan Snyder is a horrible human being.  He is the Dick Cheney of the sports world.  Are we all clear on that?  Good.  In a public statement, he made it very well known that he has no intentions of ever changing the name of the Washington Redskins.  NEVER.  He sees it as honoring the Native American people and culture.  He sees the name as a great tradition and he couldn't let the fan base down by changing the name.  No sir, you are wrong.  Having a team name that is a derogatory term is not an honor. 

There are professional and collegiate teams that have Native American inspired names.  The Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Indians, Central Michigan Chippewas, North Dakota Fighting Sioux, and Chicago Blackhawks just to name a few with which I am familiar.  Just looking at those names, there is nothing that really jumps out as offensive material (their logos are a different matter).  Yes, there are some controversy with some of these organizations, but not to the scale as the Washington Redskins.  When the organization was first founded in 1932, they were the Boston Braves.  That is just fine, but I'm sure their logo was horribly racist.  There is nothing wrong with the name 'Braves' as I see it, but if you throw in some tomahawk chops we are done.  The following year their nickname was changed to the Redskins.  It has been shamefully there ever since.  In 1933, 'Redskins' was probably in the everyday vocabulary and seemed to be okay to use.  

It's one thing for an oblivious, douche-tastic team owner to think that it is in the best interest of his team and fans to keep an offensive name, but when the commissioner comes out in a public statement saying he will not force said oblivious, douche-tastic team owner to change the name, that is something else.  That is Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL.  He does not have the decency to stand up to Snyder and tell him that what he is doing is giving not only his team but the league a black eye.  He is quick to jump at the opportunity to fine players for tweeting, or speaking bad on the NFL, but when it comes to a true issue, he goes soft.  Roger Goodell is just as guilty as Dan Snyder in this situation. 

Name changes happen in sports.  Teams move places and change their name to fit where they now are.  Or teams change their name for public relations reasons.  Even within the city of Washington D.C. there has been a sports team change their name to help disassociate themselves with controversy.  Show of hands, who remembers the Washington Bullets?  Well, back in 1996 the crime rate in D.C. was extremely high and the owner thought it was bad publicity and bad connotations to have the nickname 'Bullets'?  It took all of two second to change the name of that team to the 'Wizards'.  You see how easy that is Mr. Snyder and Mr. Goodell? 

Didn't feel like reading all of that?  That's fine, here's some white guys honoring my people: