--- title: Redskins: The NFL Must Stop Promoting a Racial Slur description: The Washington franchise's team name continues to hurt Native Americans, revealing the football league's ongoing bigotry as preseason begins canonical: https://time.com/4859656/washington-redskins-dan-snyder-supreme-court/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-26T20:40:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-30T11:03:02.105Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The NFL Must Stop Promoting a Racial Slur og:description: As training camp begins, its Washington franchise remains a symbol of the league's hypocrisy og:url: https://time.com/4859656/washington-redskins-dan-snyder-supreme-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c89f7ee54c3b1ca/6988d7420a4a22b27e9cf334/redskins-nfl-dan-snyder-native-americans-indians-copyright-supreme-court-trademark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3139 og:image:height: 1766 og:image:alt: Washington Redskins v New England Patriots og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The NFL Must Stop Promoting a Racial Slur twitter:description: As training camp begins, its Washington franchise remains a symbol of the league's hypocrisy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c89f7ee54c3b1ca/6988d7420a4a22b27e9cf334/redskins-nfl-dan-snyder-native-americans-indians-copyright-supreme-court-trademark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The NFL Needs to Stop Promoting a Racial Slur > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=95c00b80-59c3-4fce-ac96-fc53127f89ef&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Jacqueline Pata](https://time.com/author/jacqueline-pata/) and [Ray Halbritter](https://time.com/author/ray-halbritter/) Jul 26, 2017 8:40 PM UTC  A Washington Redskins helmet before the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on November 8, 2015 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. A Washington Redskins helmet before the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on November 8, 2015 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Maddie Meyer—Getty Images by [Jacqueline Pata](https://time.com/author/jacqueline-pata/) and [Ray Halbritter](https://time.com/author/ray-halbritter/) Jul 26, 2017 8:40 PM UTC Here is a good rule of thumb: If your team name requires a landmark court order protecting racist [hate speech](http://time.com/4699823/adl-silicon-valley-hate-center/), then it is a signal you should change your team’s name. Such should be the lesson of the [recent United States Supreme Court ruling](http://time.com/4823567/supreme-court-washington-redskins-trademark-case/) that federal trademarks can be registered, even if they are offensive of derogatory — a case needed by the NFL to protect the Washington, D.C., professional football team’s name. And yet in response to the ruling, the team’s billionaire owner, [Dan Snyder](http://washington.cbslocal.com/2017/06/19/redskins-owner-dan-snyder-thrilled-with-supreme-court-decision/), declared “I am THRILLED!” At one level, Snyder’s celebration was unsurprising and illustrative: A billionaire team owner rejoiced over the fact that he gets legal protection to continue marketing, promoting and — most importantly — making money off a dictionary-defined racial slur. But at another level, the case and the team’s reaction to it provides a powerful reminder of both the National Football League’s hypocrisy — and the ways in which bigotry is turned into a for-profit enterprise. Every major Native American organization in the country — joined by hundreds of religious and civil rights organizations, political leaders from both sides of the aisle and at various levels of government, sports icons, top journalists and news publications, and other thought leaders from all walks of life — has spoken out against the use of the epithet because of the harm it causes. [Studies](http://www.changethemascot.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DrFriedmanReport.pdf) have repeatedly highlighted the devastating damage to self-esteem and overall mental health that exposure to this word causes for Native American children. Exposure to mascotization has also been shown to encourage discrimination and prejudice toward Native Americans by those of other races. The obligation to not use the R-word is a moral one. Every major English dictionary describes the R-word as a derogatory way to speak about indigenous peoples. The term was [used to describe](http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a29318/redskin-name-update/) the bloody scalps of Native Americans to be [exchanged for a bounty](https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/sports/seeking-250-reward-settlers-hunted-for-redskin-scalps-during-extermination-effort/). It is a term screamed at Native Americans as they were dragged at gunpoint off their lands, and it was chosen as the team’s name by one of America’s most renowned segregationists, [George Preston Marshall](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/06/05/integrating-the-redskins-george-preston-marshall-vs-the-us-government/b8b82386-4cf0-498c-8a5a-e0498b8d5884/?utm%5Fterm=.6aa5d52addd2), who was the last by a decade to [integrate his team](http://www.espn.com/page2/wash/s/2002/0305/1346021.html) and only did so under threat of action against the organization by the federal government. Despite that opposition and that ugly history, the team has utterly disregarded the unavoidable truth that the [R-word is degrading](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/redskin-definition-dictionary-merriam-webster-contemptuous-offensive/). Instead, Snyder and his franchise have chosen to focus on whether or not they can legally get away with using this slur, irrespective of the damage and offense it causes. Snyder’s euphoria, though, misses a key and simple point: Just because you _can_ do something, certainly does not mean that you _should_. There is a wide range of things that are legally protected in our free society, but we choose not to do them because as responsible, ethical adults we understand they are not in the best interest of ourselves, others or society as a whole. Just because the laws of our nation make it legally permissible to slur somebody and to use vile and grotesque language does not make it right. To be sure, defenders of the name typically insist that the mockery and monetization of Native Americans are well-meaning attempts to “honor” us. Being slurred is anything but an honor. Unlike Snyder, Native Americans are not “thrilled” about continuing to see our culture and heritage mocked in the form of sports mascots. Whether or not you agree with the recent Supreme Court from a freedom of speech standpoint, the court’s ruling — and Snyder’s response to it — has put the Washington football franchise in the proper historical context. The team now proudly stands with others, like the [National Socialist Party of America](http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/432/43.html) and [cross-burning bigots](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/395/444/#annotation), as famous voices of bigotry who needed landmark court decisions to spread their hate. From this point forward, whenever neo-Nazis, white supremacists, discriminatory organizations or any citizen who is fine with using bigoted and harmful rhetoric wants to protect and trademark their hate speech, Washington, D.C.,’s NFL team will serve as an example for justification of using repulsive racial slurs. From a legal perspective, Snyder will technically be protected. But the ruling only intensifies the enduring question that still remains: Does the NFL and its Washington franchise want to remain the modern era’s most famous legal symbol of bigotry? Unfortunately for now, the answer appears to be yes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4859656/washington-redskins-dan-snyder-supreme-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4859656/washington-redskins-dan-snyder-supreme-court/"},"headline":"The NFL Needs to Stop Promoting a Racial Slur","datePublished":"2017-07-26T20:40:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-30T11:03:02.105Z","description":"As training camp begins, its Washington franchise remains a symbol of the league's hypocrisy","url":"https://time.com/4859656/washington-redskins-dan-snyder-supreme-court/","keywords":["Sports","Supreme Court"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c89f7ee54c3b1ca/6988d7420a4a22b27e9cf334/redskins-nfl-dan-snyder-native-americans-indians-copyright-supreme-court-trademark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jacqueline Pata","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/jacqueline-pata/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Ray Halbritter","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/ray-halbritter/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c89f7ee54c3b1ca/6988d7420a4a22b27e9cf334/redskins-nfl-dan-snyder-native-americans-indians-copyright-supreme-court-trademark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Washington Redskins v New England Patriots","caption":"Washington Redskins v New England Patriots","creditText":"Maddie Meyer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4859656/washington-redskins-dan-snyder-supreme-court/","name":"The NFL Needs to Stop Promoting a Racial Slur"}}]}] ```