Proposed law would be first in nation to ban ‘Redskins’ school mascot

California, home to the largest number of American Indians in the country, is for the third time considering legislation that would end the use of “Redskins” as a school team name or mascot.

If the legislation passes and is signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, California would become the first state in the nation to ban the use of “Redskins” as a team name or mascot in public schools, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944. Many Native Americans consider the term a racial slur.

The bill is the latest effort in a more than 50-year national campaign by Native Americans to remove race-based team names from schools and sports groups. In California, proponents of the ban have cited peer-reviewed studies by researchers at the University of Arizona, Stanford University and the University of Michigan that found American Indian youth who were exposed to Native American mascots and stereotypical imagery reported a diminished sense of what they could achieve academically.