The rest of the world is laughing at Americans even more...
You can make any word offensive these days. You're never going to please everyone unfortunately.
I really wish we could go back to the "sticks and stones may break my bones but names can't hurt me" society. Everyone was more calm back then and people knew how to ignore words and fist fights solved a lot of things too. Now you got butt hurt weaklings threatening lawsuits as their only strength because they aren't real men and can't fight, coinciding with how woman do things. Bring back the 'say it to my face and duke it out days. Only baby boomers and Gen X will probably remember those days.
As far as this specifically, changing names is just a political and PR move. If government really wanted to do something for the Native Americans, forget name changes and just give them back more land. I'm sure they would much rather have that. My $.02
Millennials are a sissified generation. By the 1990s, when the Millennials were in their formative years in school, the schools were ineffective at doling out harsh discipline, and there was no harsh discipline for anything. At the same time, the schools highly discouraged physical fighting and there were threats of suspensions that could impact permanent records and college admissions. Millennials were pushed into the college track more than previous generations, and college was the holy grail.
You're exactly right that this is a PR move. It's a saving face move. The Washington football team was squeezed by the sponsors and retailers. Daniel Snyder needed the merchandise money and if Walmart, Target, and Nike weren't selling Redskins apparel, that's a loss of money. If FedEx was not going to pay the team the naming rights annual payment and sponsorship money, that's a loss of money. If Pepsi wasn't going to pay sponsorship money, that's a loss.
In the mid-1990s, the NBA's New Jersey Nets nearly changed their name to the New Jersey Swamp Dragons.
When the New Jersey Nets moved back to New York City in 2012, they should have gone back to New York Nets instead of Brooklyn Nets. The Nets were the New York Nets during their 1970s heyday in the ABA.