Reid won’t attend Redskins game until they’re not Redskins

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has declined an invitation to attend a home game with the Washington Redskins until the team changes its name.

In a letter to the NFL team’s executive, Bruce Allen, last week, Reid wrote he “will not stand idly by while a professional sports team promotes a racial slur as a team name and disparages the American people. Nor will I consider your invitation to attend a home game until your organization chooses to do the right thing and change its offensive name.”

The Washington Post obtained a copy of the letter, which was a response to a letter Allen sent to Reid last month in which he defended the team’s name and invited Reid to attend a game. Allen described the team’s name as “respectful” toward Native Americans.

{mosads}He encouraged Reid to attend a home game to witness the “positive, unifying force” the team has on the region that is “divided on so many levels.”

“This is personal for me,” Reid said in his response. “I represent 27 tribes as the Senator from Nevada and have worked to protect their homelands and their sovereignty.”

The exchange began after Reid joined 49 other Democratic senators in a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell protesting the Redskin’s name in May. 

Later that month, the Redskins urged its followers on Twitter to tell Reid “what the team means to you.”

The majority leader called for a name change back in December, when he told The Hill it is “shortsighted” of owner Dan Snyder to keep it.