Opinion: Banning the N-word but supporting the R-word in NFL

The National Football League [NFL] is reportedly about to ban the use of racist and gender-related slurs on the field and elsewhere, even to the point of imposing a 15-yard penalty, or even ejecting a player from the field, for uttering words like "n*gger" and "f*ggot."

But the new rule will apparently ignore one of the most racist, offensive, and derogatory words used hundreds of times every day by the league itself and by one of its teams: "R*dskins."

Imagine the irony, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf. "Call an American Indian player a "r*dskin" on the field and you will be lose yardage and then be ejected, but use the same word in reference to an entire team and you are defended and rewarded."

Banzhaf is helping to lead the battle to change the team's name, and—with several former FCC Commissioners—to use federal broadcast law to prevent its use on radio and television, especially during times when impressionable children are watching and listening.