So the Washington Redskins can move on from the debacle of the Shanahan era, which means they’ll have time to address their curse: the team’s name. “Redskins” is a slur, a dismissive word intended to denigrate people whose skin is not white. It is no different from the well-known slurs used down through the years to marginalize those of Irish, Italian, Polish, East Asian and African descent. Though not unique to the United States, ethnic slurs are especially gratuitous in a country that promises equality.

Adding its voice to a chorus of organizations, entities and commentators, including President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in favor of the name being changed is the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition that includes the NAACP and the ACLU. Eighty-five organizations were represented at the conference’s annual meeting this month, and none objected to the resolution on Redskins.

Three other aspects are worth noting.

First, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, who asserts final say on the matter, cites tradition as the word people should associate with the team name. (“I was born a fan of the Washington Redskins.”) There’s some merit to that; perhaps people in the approximate age range of 25 to 55 (Snyder is 49) associate the Redskins with their three Super Bowl wins and names such as Gibbs, Theismann, Riggins, Rypien, Larry Brown and Doug Williams. But for older folks and millennials, “Redskins” should conjure up numbers such as: Chicago, 73, Washington, 0, in the 1940 championship game (now there was a nickname, Monsters of the Midway for the Bears); records of 1-9-2 in 1960 and 1-12-1 in 1961; and, since the last Super Bowl win in 1992, only seven winning seasons out of 21. Imagine growing up with those memories.

Second, many teams have changed names and images through the years, though we recall no precise parallel to the Redskins. Fans learned to love the Brooklyn Dodgers as the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Tampa Bay baseball team rebranded from the Devil Rays to the Rays, coinciding with a reversal of team fortune, though not monetary. The football Cardinals have wandered from Chicago to St. Louis to Phoenix. In basketball, the New Orleans Jazz was replaced by another team, the New Orleans Hornets, who became the New Orleans Pelicans while the Carolina Bobcats, who replaced the Hornets in Charlotte, became the new Hornets ... well, you get the idea.

The two best examples resonate in Frederick. Owner Abe Pollin courageously changed his Washington NBA team’s name from Bullets to Wizards in 1997; maybe it was easier to accept because in less than 40 years the team had already been the Chicago Packers, the Chicago Zephyrs, the Baltimore Bullets and the Capital Bullets. And Baltimore fans, positively mad about their Colts (in more ways than one, circa “the cold, snowy morning of March 28, 1984”), have wholly embraced the Ravens, their team of 18 seasons.

Note, too, that Washington Redskins dates to only 1937, when the team came to town from a five-year stint (four of them as the Redskins) in Boston. Tradition? That would be the Chicago Cubs, among others, with “Cubs” dating to 1903 and the team to 1876 (nee White Stockings). Even the New York Yankees were once called the Highlanders, the switch made at least in part because of, bless his heart, a newspaper editor; “Highlanders” was challenging for headline writers.

Third, the word that should appeal most to Snyder in the Redskins mess is spelled m-o-n-e-y. We have been surprised at the word’s frequent absence from name-change discussions. There is a fortune to be made from all the new merchandise that would be sold, as well as a tsunami of good will. One can imagine most anything with “Redskins” on it assuming historic value, especially as time goes on.

Changing the name will not wipe out 80 years of history and Snyder’s memories. A new name is the right way to go.