Click on the image to read Goodell’s letter.

The debate over whether using the name Redskins is appropriate for Washington’s NFL team got new energy this week in the form of a letter to Congress from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. He called the issue “complex,” cited how the name was initially decided upon, and wrote that it “has thus from its origin represented a positive meaning distinct from any other disparagement that could be viewed in some other context.”

The letter is his response to an earlier letter to him from a bipartisan group of ten House members who urged Goodell to oppose the continued use of the Redskins name. Goodell’s letter is dated June 5, but the contents were released on Tuesday by representative Betty McCollum, co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus. A member of the delegation, representative Eni Faleomavaega of American Samoa, on Wednesday reacted to Goodell’s letter, saying he “completely missed the point regarding the Washington franchise’s name.”

Team owner Dan Snyder has vowed he will “never” change the name of the franchise.

Click on the image to read Goodell’s letter, then take our poll.