By Danielle Tobb ’17

Fans of the Washington Redskins are a long-suffering bunch and they have reached the point where they expect this season to be the worst for their team. At the beginning of the season, the team demoted Robert Griffin III who went from hero to zero since being the Redskins’ second draft pick overall in 2012. On the last day of August, Jay Gruden pulled RGIII as the starting quarterback and named Kurt Cousins as his replacement. Since then, the team has experienced new lows with a 2-3 losing record.

During another season of suffering for the Redskins, many have temporarily forgotten the controversy over whether or not the team should keep its name. The conflict reignited most recently in October, 2013 when President Obama spoke out about how he had legitimate concerns about the racist connotation that the name may hold. On November 2, 2014, thousands of Native Americans in Minnesota outside the stadium where the Redskins game was about to take place, Vikings chanted, “Who are we…not your mascots!” The courts revisited the issue on July 8, 2015; the US District Court upheld the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to cancel the Redskins’ federal trademark registration. The team is still permitted to use the name but without federal trademark protection.

In response to criticism over the team name, Redskins owner Dan Snyder said, “A Redskin is a football player. A Redskin is our fans, the Washington Redskin fan base. It represents honor, represents respect, represents pride, hopefully winning.”

While Snyder remains unmoved by the growing calls for a new team name, others began to rename and redesign a logo on their own. The Washington Post opened a competition to the public to create a new name. The top suggested names in their contest include the Washington Warriors, Washington Americans and Washington Blue Crabs.

Whether or not the Redskins make the playoffs this season, the controversy over the team name is not going anywhere soon. Snyder is insistent that the name and logo is not offensive to Native Americans, but future legislation or public opinion might force the change upon the team.