Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that the Washington Redskins should change their name.
In an interview with The Hill, Reid said, “I think [Washington Redskins owner Dan] Snyder is so shortsighted on this.”
{mosads}He added, “We live in a society where you can’t denigrate a race of people. And that’s what that is. I mean, you can’t have the Washington Blackskins. I think it’s so shortsighted.”
Earlier this year, Snyder said he would never change the name. Asked for comment, a spokesman for the Redskins referred to the letter Snyder wrote to the team’s fans earlier this year on the name controversy
The three most powerful Democrats in Washington — President Obama, Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) — have now urged the Redskins to rethink their mascot.
Pelosi told The Hill in October that it “probably would be a good idea if they change the name.”
Obama, meanwhile, told The Associated Press this fall that he would think about changing the name if he owned the team.
Reid noted that other sports teams have changed their controversial monikers, including the Washington Wizards. The professional basketball team used to be named the Washington Bullets.
Other members of Congress who have called for the Redskins to change their name include Reps. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Dels. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa).