Typically, leadership in this country comes from the top.

When something needs to be changed, it’s changed at the highest level to set an example for everyone else.

Typically, when something is being done wrong, even when it’s not obvious to the offender, you can expect someone in grown-up society to set it right. You can expect someone to say the right thing and correct the offense.

The Washington Redskins, all of the team’s sponsors and the NFL at large are currently devoid of that leadership.

This, of course, is all part of the larger debate on Native American mascots. When it comes to the majority of those mascots, I’m not the one to say whether they come off as offensive. How Braves and Warriors differ from Vikings and Minutemen or Indians and Aztecs differ from Irish and Spartans is beyond my depth.

There’s things that can be done to make many of those team names inoffensive: Take away cartoonish Native mascots, prohibit spectators to dress in offensive garb, even stop the ‘Tomahawk chop.’

This isn’t about Flathead or Ronan or any of the dozens of Montana high schools that use Native mascots.

The argument surrounding many high school and college team names and mascots is one that is likely to carry on for some time. It’s an argument that is nuanced and changes based on location and other circumstances.

There is no argument about Redskins. Or at least there shouldn’t be.

It isn’t the name of tribe that could endorse such a name. It isn’t an occupation or a word used in any other sense.

It is a slur. There is no way the word can be used that wouldn’t offend an entire race of people if used outside of sports. There is no defense of it.

Yet, because of tradition, money and weak leadership, it persists.

In truth, only one man has the power to change the nickname. That man, Washington owner Dan Snyder, has said he has no interest in changing the name.

And as of recent, no one involved directly with the team has asked him to change.

Sure a few newspapers have vowed to stop using the name. Advocacy groups have run advertisements and public opinion has even shifted against the team mascot.

But those that truly have power to influence Snyder have been quiet.

The NFL, its commissioner and other owners haven’t spoken up. The team’s advertisers have stayed silent. FedEx, which signed a lucrative naming-rights deal with the team, refuses to talk about the subject. Other than a few politicians from distant states, the U.S. Congress, situated mere miles from the team’s offices, have stayed away from the topic.

In void of leadership in the Redskins front office, no one with the power to do so has stepped up to be the adult in the room. No one has decided to make the tough choice of telling the team owner that he is wrong.

For years, colleges refused to change names or mascots that could be deemed offensive. It wasn’t until the NCAA itself stepped in that many, some kicking and screaming, came to their senses.

Relicensing and rebranding costs money, but it’s certainly not unprecedented in sports. In the last two years in the NBA, the Hornets changed to the Pelicans, and the Bobcats to the Hornets.

And it’s there where we might find the best lesson. In 1995, then-Washington Bullets owner Abe Pollin tired of the perceived violence in his team’s name amidst high crime and homicide rates in the nation’s capital. He changed the team’s name to the Wizards starting in the 1997 season. While some early backlash happened, the team’s name is no longer an issue.

Changing this one team name won’t fix everything, and it certainly won’t make the debate go away.

But it is certainly the worst. And the team plays at the highest level in front of millions of fans. If Washington leads the way, it will pave the way for other colleges and high schools to look at how their team names are perceived.

Public opinion and bad public relations likely won’t change the mind of Snyder or anybody in Washington, nor will legal fights that start to turn against them. It’s on leadership in the NFL and its advertisers to push for change. Because as long as they stay silent, they are just as wrong.