White House Petition to Revoke the Trademark for the Washington Redskins Started by the Washington Warriors LLC

June 18, 2014 - A new petition was created by the Washington Warriors LLC to request that the Obama administration revoke the trademark for the Washington Redskins. Revoking the trademark would force the Washington Redskins to change their name.

California State University, San Bernardino conducted a study on racial and ethnic perspectives and found that 67% of American Indians find the team name an offensive, disrespectful, and racist word for American Indian. The debate over the team name has been ongoing since at least 1972. When the team owner changed the name from Braves to Redskins in 1932 it was to avoid confusion with the Boston Braves baseball team, not to honor coach "Lone Star" Dietz, whose claims to be a Native American were false. There is no evidence the name was ever used to show respect.

The Washington Redskins fight song up until the 1980s included these lyrics: "Scalp 'em, swamp 'um; We will take 'um big score; Read 'um, Weep 'um, touchdown; We want heap more." The Washington Warriors could use "Washington Warriors - Come out to play-ayyy!" as a stadium chant, based on a line from the movie The Warriors.

Supporters of a name change include President Obama, Senator Harry Reid, Senator John McCain, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, Redskins Pro Bowl defensive back DeAngelo Hall, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, the District of Columbia City Council, the State Legislatures of Maryland and New York, and the Oneida Indian Nation. President Obama said "If I were the owner of the team and I knew that there was a name of my team - even if it had a storied history - that was offending a sizeable group of people, I'd think about changing it."