As recently as 1990, more than 65 professional and collegiate sports teams used names/imagery that would be considered offensive to Native Americans. These names/imagery violate the 9th Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Washington Redskins, whose name was officially used for the first time in 1933, need to change their name/imagery because it violates the 9th amendment and is disparaging to Native Americans, but refuse, because the owner continues to profit from merchandise featuring the offensive material. All United States citizens are protected by the laws of the US Constitution. The 9th amendment states that all citizens have the right to rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, such as the right to dignity.…show more content… One of the biggest reasons for this: money. Snyder continues to make huge profits from the Redskins brand. Over the past decade, the Redskins have been the NFL’s most profitable team, with an average operating income of $76 million. Over the past year, their revenue has been $439 million. Dan Snyder has clearly made a lot of money off of this derogatory term. And the amount of money he makes every year keeps growing. The Redskins value grew 19% over the past year. Their in-stadium revenue alone totaled over $45 million last year. Fan support has been a huge factor in this as well. In 2014, the Redskins made $85 million in ticket sales alone. On average over the past year, the Redskins made about $40 per fan in the Washington DC area. The Redskins continue to be one of the most profitable teams in the world, despite using this offensive term to lead…show more content… First of all, “Redskin” is defined in the dictionary as, “An offensive term for American Indian.” Also, many people say that just because a small percentage of people are offended, the name needs to change. Even if 10% of people say they are offended, that is still almost 75 people, or enough to fill up an entire football roster and coaching staff. And that’s just a small sampling of people from that poll. Several polls like this have been conducted and can be regarded, including a 2014 poll by California State University, which found that 67% of Native Americans polled believe that the name is racist. The list could go on and on. However, if there is a group of people sufficiently large enough who believe that the name offends them, which there is and it does, then the name cannot be ignored or argued as a term of honor and respect, especially if you are respecting the people this term supposedly “honors” by ignoring their pleas and petitions against that very
