First Nations group challenges Redskins to change 'hurtful' nickname

After the Change the Mascot campaign helped convince the Cleveland Indians to remove their "Chief Wahoo" logo from uniforms starting in 2019, the group has turned its attention to the Washington Redskins.

In a statement obtained by ESPN on Monday, campaign leader and Oneida Nation representative Ray Halbritter asked Redskins owner Dan Snyder to change the "hurtful" team nickname, which he said doubles as a "dictionary-defined racial slur." The statement reads:

The Cleveland baseball team has rightly recognized that Native Americans do not deserve to be denigrated as cartoon mascots, and the team's move is a reflection of a grassroots movement that has pressed sports franchises to respect Native people.

Cleveland's decision should finally compel the Washington football team to make the same honorable decision. For too long, people of color have been stereotyped with these kinds of hurtful symbols -- and no symbol is more hurtful than the football team in the nation's capital using a dictionary-defined racial slur as its team name. Washington Owner Dan Snyder needs to look at Cleveland's move and then look in the mirror and ask whether he wants to be forever known as the most famous purveyor of bigotry in modern sports, or if he wants to finally stand on the right side of history and change his team's name. We hope he chooses the latter.

The Change the Mascot group, like some others, refers to the Redskins as the "Washington football team" or the "R-word."

In 2016 and 2015, respectively, Snyder and team president Bruce Allen both said the club wouldn't change its name. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has also supported that stance. The team did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.