Raven Ziegler from Minneapolis protests the name nickname of the Washington team. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Raven Ziegler from Minneapolis protests the name nickname of the Washington team. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

It ain’t easy being the billionaire owner of a professional football team with a blatantly racist name. Dan Snyder knows what I’m talking about.

It’s been quite a rough week for him and his Washington football team. In the ever-growing controversy over the team’s racially insensitive name, the team fired back against critics, but the result was, uh, less than successful. Apart from that, more and more people—including former players—are speaking out against the team’s name.

Let’s take a look:

  • First, former Washington team player, Mark Schlereth, who played guard for the team from 1989 to 1994, told ABC’s This Week that he thinks it’s “time to change the name.” On the show, Schlereth said that “there’s no question, if you research the history of that name, it’s a pejorative term and it needs to change.” Adding that “you would never go into a conference of Native American people and walk up in front of them and refer to them as R*dskins. It is a derogatory term, that’s its origins, and it is time to be a leader, from the standpoint of the NFL. High school across America have changed their names. The NCAA has implemented policy to change those names. Why has the NFL shuffled its feet on this? I don’t know, but it’s time to change.”

    Schlereth joins a growing number of former Washington player, including Hall of Famers Art Monk and Darrell Green, who are speaking out against the team’s name.

  • In response to the letter Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and 50 other U.S. Senators sent to the team urging them to change their name, the team fired back on Twitter, asking fans and supporters to tweet to Reid with the hashtag
    #[WashingtonFootballTeam]Pride, saying what the name means to them. It went about as well as you’d expect:

    Reid, of course, was pretty happy with the result. Faiz Shakir, Reid’s digital director, told the Post that the response “really made our day.”

  • Finally, it looks like Snyder is having a tough time getting Native Americans to come to D.C. for some sort of news conference next week. USA Today reports that the team reached out to Joseph Holley, Chairman of the Battle Mountain Band of Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians to come to D.C. on Monday for a “news media event with owner Daniel Snyder.”

    Holley declined, telling USA Today that “they did not tell me what the meeting was about, what I would be doing or who else was invited and wanted my answer in just a few hours. My answer was no. I’ve got responsibilities to my community and members here at home and can’t be running off to D.C. at a moment’s notice to meet with a football team to do who knows what.”

Better luck next week, Dan.

Filed Under: dan snyder, harry reid, name change controversy, washington football team,