Frank Luntz, celebrated spinmeister, has taken on a new task, it seems. He'll be in charge of figuring out a way to convince the public that a blatantly racist major sports team's name is really nothing to get upset about.

There is a strange disconnect in American sports when it comes to portrayals of Native Americans. While college sports have managed to modernize and throw off the ugliness of their racially-insensitive team names, logos, and mascots, sadly professional sports have dug in their heels and refused to do the same. Chief Wahoo still maniacally grins out at the baseball fans of Cleveland, Atlanta fans still love to perform their "tomahawk chop" chant, and the owner of the Washington football team is pushing back against any suggestion that the name "Redskins" might actually be considered offensive by anyone.

I've written about this subject before, because my wife came up with a great idea to solve the problem once and for all. In a nutshell, have all the Native American tribes form a corporation with the sole purpose of licensing Native American names and logos to professional sports teams. This corporation would decide exactly how offensive each logo or team name is, and they'd charge accordingly. The proceeds could go to a fund to send Native American kids to college, or other equally-desirable projects. Since major league sports are all monopolies regulated by Congress, a law could be designed to force this outcome. If the teams didn't want to pay, then they would have a simple way to avoid doing so: change their name or logo to something not racially-offensive.

While the owner of the Washington football team with the racist name has fought off past efforts to change the team's name, this time around it was ten members of Congress who wrote him a letter urging him to do so. He declined, and the head of the National Football League backed him up. They've staked out their position, quite clearly. The name's never going to change, they insist.

But in reading about the recruitment of Luntz to the Washington football team with the racist name's efforts to soften their racism, there was one interesting paragraph towards the end:

The City Paper, it should be noted, refuses to use the teams‚ name, and refers to it as the "Pigskins," which would be a fine replacement. The Kansas City Star has a similar policy but, notably, none of the other major Washington-area media outlets do. If the Washington Post -- or Disney-owned ESPN! -- adopted a similar policy, it could actually force a change, but that's not likely to happen any time soon. Some Post columnists have written about their opposition to the name, but the paper needs access to the team to be able to have a sports section.

Now there's an idea. Let's just all stop using the name. While, obviously, it's a mouthful to use "the Washington football team with the racist name" in every instance, the "Pigskins" certainly seems like a workable term. Some of their fans already call themselves "The Hogs," after all.

This effort, as the story points out, needs to be led by a group of people who aren't generally known for either their devotion to political correctness or even politics at all -- sports reporters. Imagine the uproar if one major television network's star sports anchor announced at the start of a game in Washington that he would no longer be using the team's racist name, and would instead be referring to the "Pigskins" for the rest of the game. That would certainly start a national discussion over the issue.

In fact, one brave soul (or one brave network, for that matter) could force the issue quite effectively. Other sports reporters and networks would be put on the spot: would they follow the new trend, or would they continue to use a name which is absolutely indefensible on its face? Is racism OK when directed against some minorities, but not against others -- or is it just flat-out unacceptable in the second decade of the twenty-first century? I can imagine this being a burning question for the entire football season, every time the Washington team with the racist name is brought up by any sportscaster on television.

Imagine if the trend took hold. Imagine that in a year or so, national television networks have instituted a ban on mentioning the Washington football team's racist name ever again. Somebody might come up with a better replacement than "Pigskins," but sooner or later public pressure would become so great that even some of the team's fans might start getting embarrassed about the continuing use of such a racist name.

I have no idea of the chances of success of such an effort. But I do know that it would be worthwhile to try. I also know that if the team had originally been named the "Blackskins" that, by now, they would be called something else. Racist terms which used to be socially acceptable among whites are no longer used in such cavalier fashion. Except, for some reason, when it comes to Native Americans. Until a few sportscasters stand up and refuse to do so anymore, perhaps.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant