California Legislature Passes AB 858

This is long needed progress; a small, sweet victory in the war against ignorance and bigotry...

--ryan




By STEVE LAWRENCE, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated 5:25 pm PDT Monday, August 16, 2004

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Senate voted Monday to bar public schools from using Redskins as a team or mascot name, agreeing with the measure's supporters that the term is offensive to Indians.
"Would you call somebody a redskin?" asked Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys. "I don't believe you would. Why? Because you know it's wrong. If you know you would not call somebody a redskin then why allow them to make redskin a mascot?"

The bill, by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, was approved 22-10 and returned to the Assembly for a vote on Senate amendments. Approval there would send the proposal to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The legislation failed the first time it was taken up by the Senate, falling four votes short of the bare majority needed for passage on Aug. 5. But Goldberg predicted that absent lawmakers would provide the missing votes the second time around.

The ban would take effect on Jan. 1, 2006, but schools could continue using old team uniforms with the Redskin name on them until they wore out if they selected a new team name and discontinued using Redskins as a name for any school publications or on any marquees or signs.

Schools could also replace up to 20 percent of their damaged or lost uniforms with new ones bearing the Redskins name if they bought them before Jan. 1, 2008.

Schools that violated the bill's provisions could face lawsuits and court orders, Goldberg's office said.

Only five schools - Calaveras High School, Chowchilla Union High
School, Colusa High School, Gustine High School and Tulare Union High School - currently use Redskins as a team name, according to a Senate analysis of the bill.

The bill's opponents said the decision on school names should be left up to school districts.

"I think many members have heard from constituents just how silly they think it is that we deal with a matter like this," said Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield.

Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Salinas, complained that the bill would force schools to spend money to replace logos and signs that would be better used for instruction. He contended students should be allowed to vote on whether to change the names, an amendment the Senate shelved the first time the bill was considered.

But the bill's supporters said it wasn't a trivial matter.

"Redskin is a negative term that offends Native Americans and it hurts," Alarcon said. "We shouldn't acquiesce to it."

Goldberg initially tried to bar schools from using a longer list of
Indian names unless they had permission from a local tribe, but she scaled back the legislation when the broader version failed in the Assembly last year.