Read the Full Text of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s Letter to Congress Regarding the Redskins

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.

Carol Ross Joynt