Broadcasters, sportswriters and even entire newspapers refuse to use it. Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists oppose it, as does half the U.S. Senate. A host of athletes, actors and other notables are also against it. The U.S. Patent Office revoked its trademark registration. Now the Federal Communication Commission is considering banning its use.

So why are Goshen High School’s athletic teams still called the Redskins?

The overriding answer is community insensitivity – people either don’t know or don’t care that the nickname is offensive. Of course, most attention is on the high-profile NFL team in Washington, but the criticisms are just as valid in Elkhart County as in the District of Columbia.

Tim Giago is an Oglala Lakota and award-winning journalist who for 30 years has been advocating for the elimination of Native American nicknames for athletic teams. He says most Native Americans oppose Redskins.

“It is a derogatory name for a race of people. It’s as simple as that,” he wrote in one of his many pieces on the issue. “It is not … an honor to be called a racist name, nor is it an honor to see football fans dressed in supposed Indiana attire not to hear them trumpeting some ludicrous Hollywood war chant, or to see them mimic or ape our dress, culture or person.”