It may not matter to you, but it matters to a lot of people. Which is why you should the Washington “Redskins” should take on a new nickname.

Although it’s small, at least according to quickfacts.census.gov, Native American make up .2 percent of the United States population. Still the term “Redskins” has been deemed offensive to some Native Americans, despite reports from Washington owner Daniel Snyder – who is adamant about sticking with the current nickname – claiming nine out of 10 Native Americans surveyed are okay with the name. That “survey” was one of those, “Oh. You’ve got one-tenth Cherokee in your blood? You’re a Native American. Come take this survey.”

There have also been many reports claiming that only one-fourth of Washington fans want the name changed. Those reports may be true, but they don’t matter. That 25 percent doesn’t speak for the .2 percent of Native Americans in the United States.

Native Americans are a very small minority in the U.S., that’s obvious. However, if you silence the opinions of one minority, you’ll silence the opinions of another.

In order to progress past racial issues, we must first understand the issue and the face associated with it.

If you google the term “Redskin.” You’ll pretty much find the same definition from different websites. Merriam-webster.com says it is “usually offensive” and it means “American Indian.”

There are times where you think just because somebody thinks something is offensive doesn’t mean it’s offensive. That’s true, but the difference here is a large group of people are offended by a word that they was used to describe a race in derogatory manner. It may have once been acceptable, but it’s not anymore.

There are so many sports teams that use the term as their team’s nickname in all levels of sports.Look no further than Social Circle High School and you’ll see a Redskins team nickname. I don’t blame anyone at the lower levels of sports because for something like this to change it has to start at the top of the ladder and that’s the NFL. Everyone else will follow suit.

We can’t scold the Donald Sterling’s of the world and not hold ourselves accountable when it’s racism that’s not black and white. If it was derogatory to blacks, whites or Hispanics the team name wouldn’t have lasted into the 90s, but it has. Native Americans have tried many times to get the name changed, but to no avail.

I ask anybody who reads this, if it there were teams that used a nickname that was widely deemed offensive to your race and you took offense to it, what would you do?

Thankfully other powers are coming to the rescue. The FCC recently stated that it was banning the nickname from its airwaves, although that’s very hard to enforce and not actually legal it’s still good to know they’re willing. The U.S Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the team name was disparaging of Native Americans. According to multiple reports, Congress is looking to take the NFL’s tax break away if it doesn’t change Redskins name.

Now that a few powers have taken steps to change the rid sports of the use of the nickname, it’s time the people follow suit and demand change. Because equality.