The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear an appeal in the case of whether the Washington Redskins’ name is offensive, the Associated Press is reporting.
This case, led by a group of American Indians who would like to see the NFL team change their name, has been going on since the early 1990s. At least once the plaintiffs won, only to be overturned on the basis of a statute of limitations. Today’s decision should finally put this particular round of legal wrangling to rest. The actual question of whether the Redskins name is racist won’t ever go away, on the other hand, because it’s really just awfully racist.