SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — Julia Estrada took a large role in removing “Indians” as the mascot from her Santa Clarita high school.
After years of advocacy, the 2000 graduate of the school said her alma mater last month formally changed its mascot to the “Hawks.”
Estrada on Wednesday spoke to the California General Assembly’s Education Committee, urging it to pass Assembly Bill 3074. It would prohibit all public schools in the state from using derogatory Native American terms for team names, mascots or nicknames.
The bill passed and now proceeds to the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee.
Committee members heard from Estrada about how, after winning a high school tennis match, her team performed a whooping call.
“My coach didn’t say anything because it was accepted and it was part of the culture,” Estrada said.
The bill’s author — Pilar Schiavo, a Chatsworth Democrat — told the committee that mascots appropriating Native American words and images can cause shame and have a negative effect on both individuals and communities.
The American Psychological Association in 2005 said all schools, athletic teams and organizations should stop using Native American mascots and images, as they harm the educational experience of everyone and create a hostile environment for native students.
Current state law already prohibits using the term “Redskins” for school team names, mascots and nicknames. Schiavo’s bill would prohibit many other terms, like “Apaches,” “Braves,” and “Chiefs."
“Tribal culture is something to be celebrated and appreciated, not mocked and appropriated,” said Sherry Treppa, chairperson for the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake.
Treppa noted that the bill affects schools only but called it a step in the right direction.
According to Schiavo, some 2,000 primary and secondary schools nationwide have Native American-themed mascots.
Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Oakland Democrat and Education Committee member, read a statement from one of her staff members, who wrote that no other race or ethnicity has their identity reduced to mascot imagery like Native Americans. Indigenous people see a tomahawk chop or someone wearing a headdress and it dehumanizes them, the person wrote.
“’It’s not the mascot,’” Bonta read. “’It’s what the mascot represents.’”
Questioned about the cost, Estrada said many changes can occur on an annual basis. Her school’s yearbook, called “Tomahawk,” can change faster than, for example, the gymnasium floor or its scoreboard. When the floor needs to be refurbished, the mascot name will be removed.
Estrada said her gym’s floor could cost around $100,000.
The bill has some exceptions. A public school operated by a tribe or tribal organization is exempt from the mascot prohibition. Additionally, the prohibition wouldn’t apply to a public school that has written consent from a locally, federally recognized tribe to use the name.
Schiavo said it’s the intention of the mascot’s use that led to the exemption. The use of a name or image must be respectful and not appropriated.
“How it’s used, how it’s talked about, images, all those things are agreed to,” Schiavo said of any exemption.
Questioned as to whether an image of a Nordic warrior would be prohibited, Schiavo said her bill cast a wide net on terms directed toward Native Americans, but “warrior” likely wouldn’t fall within it.
Lawmakers have tried to pass similar bills in the past.
Lawmakers filed several bills between 2002 and 2005 that sought to stop the use of Native American terms for team names and mascots. Two bills were vetoed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2015, the term “Redskins” was banned.
“This bill is clearly long overdue,” said Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Torrance Democrat and committee chairperson.
An unrelated bill the committee heard Wednesday — Assembly Bill 3038, by Bill Essayli, a Corona Republican — would have required schools with over 50 students to have an armed school resource officer on campus. The committee did not pass it.
Essayli said he was offering a method of addressing school shootings and that the committee had provided no potential amendments to his bill.
“When there’s another school shooting, I’m not going to be the person who offers thoughts and prayers,” Essayli said.
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