The executives for the football team in our nation’s capitol should join the rest of us in the 21st century and stop using a racial slur for its team mascot.
Earlier this month, Slate and several other publications joined a growing list of media outlets who will not refer to the football franchise in Washington, D.C., by its discriminatory nickname.
The choice drew some well-warranted attention to a national travesty.
The football team's owner, Daniel Snyder, told USA Today earlier this year that the franchise would NEVER (he told them to use all capitals) change its name.
“As a lifelong ... fan, I think that ... fans understand the great tradition and what it's all about and what it means," Snyder told USA Today.
Snyder is right about one thing: It is all about tradition, though I would not use the word “great” to describe a tradition of cultural insensitivity, ignorance and flat-out racism.
I think Snyder would be better off using words and phrases like not-so-great, hurtful, disagreeable, amateurish, bush league, crummy, rotten, destructive, atrocious, appalling, deplorable, vulgar and profane, just to name a few.
If you think I am exaggerating, think again, and Google the team's original owner, George Preston Marshall.
Marshall was an avid racist who refused to integrate black players on his team until 1967, when the rest of the league did so in the late 1940s.
Tradition? Yes. Great? Not exactly.
Reach the columnist npmendo@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @NPMendoza
