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Assembly committee approves mascots bill (UPDATE)

By: Associated Press//October 9, 2013//

Assembly committee approves mascots bill (UPDATE)

By: Associated Press//October 9, 2013//

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By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A legislative committee approved a Republican bill Wednesday that would make stripping public schools of race-based nicknames and mascots more difficult, clearing the way for a full vote in the state Assembly next week.

Republicans introduced the bill to help the Mukwonago Area School District, which has refused to obey a state Department of Public Instruction order to drop its “Indians” nickname. The Assembly’s government operations committee passed the proposal on a 7-4 party-line vote despite minority Democrats’ complaints that the measure represents a step backward in race relations.

“I can’t imagine high school students sitting at their high school football game and having thousands of people around them yelling stuff like ‘slaughter the Indians’ or ‘slaughter the Apaches,'” Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee, said. “That to me is completely wrong. It breaks my heart to see we’re going back down this road.”

The bill’s supporters countered that current state law is too slanted toward complainants and doesn’t give schools a fair chance to defend beloved nicknames they’ve used for decades.

“Only one person can file a complaint and the bureaucrats take over,” said Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, a committee member and the bill’s chief sponsor. “The person doesn’t even have to show one instance where he or she was offended.”

Under current state law, a single person can file a complaint about a nickname or mascot. DPI officials must schedule a hearing where the school district must prove the nickname or mascot doesn’t promote discrimination or stereotyping. They can then order the district to drop the nickname or mascot.

The bill would require anyone seeking to force change to collect petition signatures from district residents equal to 10 percent of the number of district students. The complainant would then have to prove discrimination to the state Department of Administration. That agency, not the Department of Public Instruction, would make the final call on whether the name or mascot must go. The measure also would erase all existing DPI orders to school districts to drop race-based names.

Barbara Munson, an Oneida Indian who chairs the Wisconsin Indian Education Association’s Indian Mascot and Logo Task Force, has labeled the measure racist.

Committee debate was brief but heated Wednesday. Rep. Fred Kessler, D-Milwaukee, warned Republicans that the United States is no longer the predominantly white country of sixty years ago. He questioned how the bill would help Republicans build inroads with minorities heading into the next election cycle.

“This country is changing. This country is becoming more diverse,” Kessler said. “I don’t understand how you sanction this boorishness and expect you’re going to receive the blessing and support of people of diverse races in this country.”

Sinicki said she understands schools’ attachment to their nicknames and mascots, but they’re fictional characters. Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, said he’s of American Indian descent and called the bill racist.

“If you want to create a fight with the native Americans … pass this bill. This throws down the gauntlet to them,” Hulsey said. “White people don’t get it. You don’t care. You’re sticking a finger in (American Indians’) eye and you don’t have to.”

Rep. Dave Craig, R-Big Bend, insisted current law doesn’t give school districts due process. Nass said a number of American Indians in Wisconsin who want to preserve Indian nicknames and mascots but are afraid to say so in the current climate.

Committee approval means the bill is now available for a vote in the full Assembly. Republican leaders have tentatively scheduled that vote for Tuesday.

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