Roger Goodell: Redskins Name Honors Native Americans

[Comrade Grumpy]

21. Most people appear fine with keeping the Redskins name. So am I.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Redskins_name_controversy#Public_opinion_polls

Despite vocal and legal action from Native American groups and scholars, the vast majority of people surveyed on the subject in prior years did not find the name offensive. Following the 1992 Super Bowl protests, The Washington Post posted a survey in which "89 percent of those surveyed said that the name should stay." In a study performed in 2004 by the National Annenberg Survey, Native Americans from the 48 continental U.S. states were asked "The professional football team in Washington calls itself the Washington Redskins. As a Native American, do you find that name offensive or doesn't it bother you?" In response, ninety percent replied that the name is acceptable, while nine percent said that it was offensive, and one percent would not answer.[75][76] The problem of individuals claiming to be Native American when they are not is well known in academic research, limiting the value of public opinion polls of the mascot issue.[77] It is a particular problem when non-natives claim Indian identity to gain authority in the debate over sports mascots.[78]

More recent national polls show continued support for retaining the name, although lower (79%) than previously.[79] The opinion of Redskin fans continues to favor keeping the name. Comments made by fans on the web in response to news stories tend to dismiss the controversy as political correctness, and that the name refers to nothing except the football team.[80]

In July 2013 The Washington Post conducted a phone survey of people living in the DC Metro Area. No questions about ethnicity were asked, only whether respondents supported the continued use of the Redskins name and if they were sports fans in general and fans of the team in particular. 66% of the respondents supported retention of the name, while 82% said that if the name did change, they would continue to support the team. A small majority (56%) of those that would keep the name also thought that the word "redskin" was not an appropriate way to describe a Native American Indian.[81]

Similar results came from a poll of residents of the DC Metro Area commissioned by the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and conducted in October 2013 which found that although sports fans want to keep the name, 59% also say Native Americans have a right to feel offended by the term redskins and 44% say that when they learn the term is defined as 'offensive' by the dictionary, they are more likely to support changing the team name. Additionally, most people (66%) say that if Snyder meets with Native American leaders, he should not refer to them as "redskins" because the term is inappropriate.

There are basic issues with the reliability of public opinion polls that overshadow their value in many cases. There has been a decline in the willingness of people to participate, now down to about 10%, so there is no way of knowing whether there is any systematic bias in the results. Survey methods influence the results, with those done by traditional mail over-sampling the elderly, and telephone surveys done using only land-lines under-sample the young, who only have cell phones.[82]

Steve Russell, an enrolled Cherokee citizen and associate professor of criminal justice at Indiana University, states that both SI and Annenberg's samples of "self-identified Native Americans... includes plenty of people who have nothing to do with Indians".[83]
Louis Gray, president of the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism and an Osage Indian: “You wouldn’t [take a poll] with any other race. You wouldn’t have African-Americans vote to decide whether or not any sort of racial epitaph would be offensive.” [84]