No surprise here: late last week the National Congress of American Indians has put out a statement saying that it supports Mayor Vince Gray’s recent opinion that the ‘Skins will have to change their name if they ever want to come back to D.C.:

NCAI supports Mayor Gray’s statement that the NFL’s Washington football team should only return to the nation’s Capital when the team’s name is changed. It’s time for the NFL and the Washington football team to join the 21st century and leave the mockery and racism of the past where it belongs, in the past.

Mayor Gray joins a chorus of common sense voices in the Washington, DC area and beyond, who view the archaic and outdated mascot and name of the team as a blemish on the otherwise outstanding reputation of the people of the DC region, and the players and fans of the team.

Fans of the civil rights movement who called for desegregation saw the Washington football team be the last to integrate African Americans into their sports business. However, the relics and racial stereotypes of the past still linger, keeping the Washington team’s brand stuck in the past.

This is the moment for the team, the NFL, and the community, to address the misappropriation of Native identity and honor the true historic and contemporary place of Native people and tribal nations in American society. NCAI would be pleased to offer our assistance in those discussions and decisions in the lead up to a name change. We look forward to ushering in a new era with the NFL, the team, its players, and the Washington region.

On Monday’s the Post’s Wonkblog identified a reason that team owner Dan Snyder may be less than amenable to the idea: the ‘Skins franchise is very valuable. So valuable, in fact, that’s it’s only beaten out by Manchester United, the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees. Writer Neil Irwin has an idea: just call ’em the ‘Skins. (We do; the City Paper has opted for the Pigskins.)