Mascots Act voted down, American Indian Association battles on at UCLA

EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Fourth-year American
literature and culture student Angel Perez makes
known his opposition to the use of American Indian mascots.

By Kelly Rayburn
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]

Two days after the California State Assembly voted down a bill
that would have banned American Indian mascots in
California’s public schools, members of the American Indian
Student Association at UCLA were declaring victory.

“We are victorious. No one has gotten this far
before,” said Crystal Roberts, a fifth-year psycho-biology
and American Indian studies student who led a Meyerhoff Park
speak-out that advocated the abolition of race-based mascots.

Tuesday, Assembly Bill 2115 ““ called the California
Racial Mascots Act ““ was defeated with bipartisan support,
35-29. The bill would have been the first state-wide legislation in
the United States to require public K-12 schools, community
colleges and California State Universities to change their mascots.
The UC, governed by its own Board of Regents, would not have been
directly affected.

About 100 schools ““ including Arcadia High School, which
sends many of its “Apache” graduates to become
“Bruins” each year ““ would have had to
change their names.

Opposers of the bill ““ including assembly Republican
Leader Bob Cox, R”“Fair Oaks, who rallied Republicans to join
a few Democrats to vote the bill down ““ said the decision to
ban American-Indian mascots should be left to local school boards.
Others said the bill represented political correctness to the
highest degree.

“I don’t think Sacramento has all the answers for
local communities when it comes to deciding a mascot,” said
Tyler Wade, legislative director for Dennis Hollingsworth, R
““ Temecula, who voted against the bill.

Backers of the bill felt otherwise, saying the issue is a matter
civil rights.

“Civil rights are not a matter of local control,”
said Jackie Goldberg, D ““ Los Angeles, the bill’s
author said in an Associated Press article. “They are a
matter of simple dignity.”

At UCLA, students appreciated Goldberg’s efforts and
questioned why American Indian mascots are prevalent, while other
race-based mascots are not.

” … You don’t have the Cleveland Darkies, you
don’t have the Orange County Honkies or the Los Angeles
Latinos,” Roberts said. “But you do have the Cleveland
Indians and the Washington Redskins.”

AISA President Alex Red Eagle, meanwhile, took strong exception
with opinions that American Indian mascots honor American Indians,
saying those arguments are “just a lot of
ridiculousness.”

“(Mascots) do not represent what being an American Indian
is all about,” he said.

“You say you’re honoring us. You’re not
honoring us. That is absolutely false … I am not a mascot. I am
not your mascot,” he said.

Though earlier in the week Goldberg said she might try to
introduce the bill on the floor one more time before today ““
the last day in the assembly’s legislative term ““ a
spokeswoman for the assemblywoman said she would almost surely wait
until next year before bringing the bill up again.

And student supporters, disappointed but not defeated, vowed to
fight on.

“We will fight ’til the end,” Roberts said.
“We will fight for our children, we will fight for our
grandchildren.”

With reports from Christina Jenkins, Daily Bruin Contributor