Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder may have changed his tone in the latest defense of his football team’s name, but his message stubbornly stays the same. His refusal to acknowledge the offense caused by the team’s name or to think seriously about changing it will prolong the debate, but it probably won’t change its outcome.

Mr. Snyder this week sent a letter to tens of thousands of fans and season-ticket holders detailing why he won’t change the name, even in the face of a growing controversy that saw the president of the United States weighing in. Likely counseled that his defiant vow to “never — you can use caps” — change the name wasn’t winning him much support, Mr. Snyder wrapped his new defense in the gauzy memories of a young boy growing up on the cheer and song of the Redskins and the need to preserve that 81-year-old tradition.

No one doubts the pull of tradition or the sincerity of fans who want to keep the name. Tradition, though, can’t be a bulwark for the indefensible. The Redskins organization showed as much in the 1960s when it changed the team fight song from “fight for old Dixie to “fight for old D.C.” That vestige of the racism of original owner George Preston Marshall — like the derogatory slur that is the team’s name — needed to be changed because it offended people.