Bill Would Force School Mascot Name Changes

American Indian team names and mascots such as Redskins, Chiefs and Apaches may be dropped from California´s public schools.

The Assembly will vote for a bill today that would force name changes at elementary, middle and high schools as well as community colleges and the University of California and California State University systems. Schools on reservations would be spared.

Outlawed would be Redskins, Indians, Braves, Chiefs, Apaches, and Comanches, as well as any other American Indian tribal name.

Over the past 30 years, more than half of the nation´s three thousand schools with Indian mascots or nicknames have changed them.