My take:
If the majority of Native Americans find the name offensive, I'd say keep it gone.
If the majority of Native Americans are cool with the name, I'd say bring it back.
The problem? The data on this is murky and can seem contradictory.
As usual, things are a bit complicated-- so enough of the "holier than thou" bullshit on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. From my perspective, the left has too much "woke" smug bullshit. AND the right has too much "anti-woke" smug bullshit.
From Wikipedia, some of the contradictory polling stats:
Two national political polls, the first in 2004 and another in 2016, were particularly influential. When a respondent identified themselves as Native American, these polls 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 both polls, 90% responded that they were not bothered, 9% that they were offended, and 1% gave no response. These polls were widely cited by teams, fans, and mainstream media as evidence that there was no need to change the name of the Washington football team or the names and mascots of other teams.
But academics noted that standard polling methods cannot accurately measure the opinions of a small, yet culturally and socially diverse population such as Native Americans. More detailed and focused academic studies found that most Native Americans found the term offensive, particularly those with more identification and involvement with their
Native cultures.
HOWEVER:
In 2020, researchers from the
University of Michigan and
UC Berkeley published a journal article on the results of an empirical study analyzing data from 1,021 Native Americans, twice the size of previous samples. It included Native Americans from all 50 states representing 148 tribes.... The researchers found that 49% of self-identified Native Americans found the Washington Redskins name offensive or very offensive, 38% found it not offensive, and 13% were indifferent. In addition, for study participants who were heavily engaged in their native or tribal cultures, 67% said they were offended, for young people 60%, and those with tribal affiliations 52%.
[25][26]
So yeah.... as is often the case in our divided world, your opinion can depend on which data you'd "prefer" to believe. Which data do you find more persuasive? The poll where 90% said they WEREN'T offended? Or the poll where 67% said they WERE offended?
en.m.wikipedia.org