Monday, October 12, 2015

Finally, a win against racism.

The legislation needs to go further. The icon of the Washington Redskins can still be marketed. This is really to address bullying. It is about young people and hatred. Sports venues at any level is a place of intense competition. That competition can become very ugly. At least California's public schools will be safe from such hatred.

October 11, 2015
By M. Alex Johnson

California (click here) became the first state to ban schools from using the "Redskins" team name or mascot Sunday, a move the National Congress of American Indians said should be a "shining example" for the rest of the country. 

The law, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed Sunday morning, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2017. It's believed to affect only four public schools using the mascot, which many Indian groups and activists find offensive, but its impact is significant symbolically — California has the largest enrollment of public school students in the nation, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. 

The state Assembly overwhelmingly approved the California Racial Mascots Act in May, about a month before the Obama administration went on record telling the Washington Redskins that they would have to change their name before they would be allowed to move to a stadium in Washington, D.C., from their current home in suburban Maryland....