Opinion: Time might be running out for racist 'Redskins' mascot

The Washington Redskins have stirred up a fresh wave of controversy amid new calls for the team to finally change its name, which some consider to be derogatory. The debate was reinvigorated last week when 10 members of Congress sent a letter to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, calling on him to consider a new name.

“Native Americans throughout the country consider the term ‘redskin’ a racial, derogatory slur akin to the ‘N-word’ among African Americans or the ‘W-word’ among Latinos,” the letter reads.

The congress members join a growing chorus calling for the team to change — or at least seriously re-evaluate — the name, which has been in place since then-owner George Preston Marshall (one of the worst racists in the sport's history) bestowed it in 1933. The two leading Indian organizations, the National Congress of American Indians, and the National Indian Education Association, have both publicly condemned the name.