Former Washington Redskins first-round draft pick Champ Bailey has been keeping his eye on the controversy surrounding his former team and the efforts being made to convince Redskins' owner Daniel Snyder to change the franchise's name due to its racial connotations.
In fact, Bailey believes that it is Snyder himself who is causing the negative media attention surrounding the situation to grow and grow.
“I get it, he doesn't want to change it,” Bailey said, via USA Today. “But he's making it worse than it should be.”
As evidenced by his repeated efforts to convince the public that the name isn't offensive to Native Americans, Snyder doesn't seem willing to budge on his position that the Redskins need to remain as the Redskins.
"We'll never change the name. It's that simple. NEVER," Snyder said last year, via Josh Katzowitz of CBS Sports.
Bailey believes that Daniel Snyder's hardline stance comes off as callous, especially with the history of the term "redskin" itself.
“I don't know where the name came from or how it came about, but the bottom line is that it's still here in this day and age, and it makes no sense to have it,” Bailey stated. “I love that organization, but when it starts peeling off old scabs and people are pitching a fit about it because it's degrading to them, then you've got to make a change.”
Bailey doesn't think it matters whether or not Snyder and his cohorts are trying to be offensive by holding on to the name. What matters to the All-Pro corner is what people who are offended by it think.
“When you hear a Native American say that Redskins is degrading, it's almost like the N-word for a black person,” Bailey said. “If they feel that way, then it's not right. They are part of this country. It's degrading to a certain race."
"Does it make sense to have the name?”
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