Granddaughter of former Redskins owner George P. Marshall condemns team’s name

The current fight to change the name of the Washington Redskins was fueled, in part, by a symposium last year on Native American sports mascots that featured a panel of experts and drew an audience of 300. At one point, a young man who had shown up in Redskins gear tossed it to the ground in an emotional show of newfound solidarity.

All the while, listening quietly and anonymously from the crowd was the granddaughter of George Preston Marshall, who brought the professional football team to Washington in 1937 and gave the team its now controversial name.

Jordan Wright, 65, has tried to stay in the shadows as the debate around the NFL team’s name has intensified. She has quietly expressed her opinion to friends and acquaintances when asked, but she has hesitated to speak publicly on the issue. She knows what people expect her to say: The team’s history matters. She also knows what she believes: The name needs to change.

“It’s about respect,” Wright said this week from her Alexandria home. “If even one person tells you that name, that word you used, offends them, then that’s enough. That should be enough.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/granddaughter-of-former-redskins-owner-george-p-marshall-condemns-teams-name/2014/07/22/eb9dd3b0-11cd-11e4-9285-4243a40ddc97_story.html?wpmk=MK0000205