Redskins should change name, Pelosi says

Rep. Nancy Pelosi believes the Washington Redskins should find a new name.

In an interview with The Hill, the California Democrat said it “probably would be a good idea if they change the name.”

{mosads}The House minority leader is the latest politician who has embraced a name change. President Obama earlier this month said he would “think about changing” the team name if he owned the football team.

Pelosi noted that when she was growing up in Baltimore, the city didn’t have a football team.

“So one of the first songs I ever learned in my whole life was, ‘Hail to the Redskins.’ I didn’t have the faintest idea what I was saying, but I’ve known it forever,” she said.

Pelosi noted she has been focusing on other issues but is aware that Native American groups have criticized the name as a slur.

Other politicians who have called for a change include Reps. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Dels. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa).

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a civil rights hero, told The Hill in March that the Redskins should consider a name change.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder has said he will never change the name.