Schools across the state, including two in our area, would have their tradition of honoring local history erased by legislation advancing in the General Assembly to prohibit their school mascot names.
The Illinois House recently passed House Bill 1237 that prohibits K-12 schools in the state from using Native American names, logos, or mascots. The bill passed by a vote of 71-40. It is now in the Senate awaiting further consideration.
The ban extends to specific mascots like “Redskins, Braves, Chiefs, Chieftains, Tribe, Indians, or any synonymous term,” as well as logos featuring Native American feathered headdresses or traditionally Native American weapons. The bill will impact schools in Illinois that currently use Native American names, logos, or mascots including the Pikeland School District Saukees, and Payson-Seymour Community Schools Indians.
“What this is doing is it’s taking one or two examples that were done many years before, and wouldn’t be acceptable now, and really it’s causing harm to those schools who choose to honor our rich heritage, and that’s unfortunate for many of us in the General Assembly,” said Moore (R-Quincy).
Rep. Moore also stressed that the forced mascot change amounts to a huge unfunded mandate on local schools.
“Not only are they going to need to change their name, and their image, they need to change their gyms, their uniforms, their fields,” said Rep. Moore. “This will have a multi-million dollar cost for every school district that’s affected by this, and of course there’s no state funding allocated to help.”
“The majority party in the House passed this legislation over our strong objections. I hope the majority party in the Senate will think this through before voting to eliminate our local history and inflicting huge unnecessary expense on our schools,” Rep. Moore concluded.