The ban goes into effect in 2017.
Advertisement
The new law, the California Racial Mascots Act, will affect four schools in the state, reports the Los Angeles Times. Native Americans involved in such policy advocacy hope the California Racial Mascots Act will inform the NFL’s decision as to whether or not the Washington football team should retain its name.
Currently, there are only four public schools in the entire state of California that use the Redskins nickname. The schools will be allowed to phase out materials with the term such as uniforms because of concerns about costs.
There are already signs that might be the case; even before Brown signed California’s prohibition into law, Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado issued an executive order to create a commission that will study whether to get rid of American Indian mascots in public schools. He said the law will help military families concentrate their efforts on securing positions in school districts that are right for their children.
Advertisement
The Oneida Indian Nation has funded a national “Change the Mascot” campaign. California is the first state in the nation to pass legislation prohibiting its schools’ teams from using the term, though at least a dozen schools around the nation have chosen to drop the name since 2013. “The most populous state in the country has now taken a stand against the use of this insidious slur in its schools,” activists with Change the Mascot said about the move. “Recently we saw a national movement to remove the Confederate flag from state capitols in the South – a long overdue action”, said Brown. Native American organizations hail the law as a victory over racism. Tribal chairman Neil Peyron noted that the school “uses its mascot as a sign of pride and honor”, thus his tribe “support(s) the school district’s use of its mascot in this way”. On the other, changing a team’s name should be the owner’s prerogative – original racist ownership notwithstanding – and opponents who would call the name racist are merely being “politically correct”. It’s come up in the news again in recent weeks because Republican candidates Jeb Bush and Donald Trump have weighed in on the issue: Don’t worry, both feel that the Washington team shouldn’t change its name.
