California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill Sunday banning the “Redskins” mascot from all state schools, forcing six high schools to change or alter their mascot.
And shockingly, the Associated Press (AP) backed up Brown’s action and implied that all American Indians find the term offensive.
AP forgot to report that Tule River Tribal Council chairman Neil Peyron and his tribe wrote a letter supporting Tulare Union’s battle to keep their Redskins mascot. Peyron said the school “uses its mascot as a sign of pride and honor.”
We doubt that AP will run a correction.
District Superintendent Sarah Koligian said the costs to Tulare Union for the name change “could range anywhere from $700,000 to $1 million in expenses that are currently not in the district’s budget.”
Governor Brown is taking money out of classrooms and teachers’ paychecks to force a change no one was calling for outside of the NFL-focused groups.
Cathy Mederos, president of the Tulare Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees, told the Fresno Bee, “I was elected in 2008 and we’ve had no one come forward and ask us to change the name.”
