by Sara Russo

A bill introduced in the California State Legislature last month would prohibit all public schools in the state from using Native American or other ethnically-themed mascots that are deemed offensive. If passed, the legislation might forcibly eliminate San Diego State University's recently revamped Montezuma mascot.

"All public schools, community colleges, the California State University, and the University of California are prohibited from using any school or athletic team name, mascot, or nickname that is derogatory or discriminatory against any race, ethnicity, nationality or tribal group," reads Assembly Bill 2115 which was introduced by Democratic assembly member Jackie Goldberg. The proposed law also calls for an absolute ban on teams using several specific Native American team names, including "Redskins, Indians, Braves, Chiefs, Apaches, Comanches, or any other American Indian tribal name."

Students at San Diego State University, a school clearly affected under the scope of the bill, are concerned that they will be forced to abandon their longstanding "Aztec" nickname and Montezuma mascot, known popularly as "Monty," if the legislation is signed into law. "Monty" is named for Montezuma II, a 16th century Aztec leader who was defeated by the Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez. The bill "might leave San Diego State without a mascot, without a logo, and even without the newly-introduced ambassador," opined an article in the Daily Aztec, the school's student paper.

Ambassador Montezuma was introduced by the school's administration this past January as an attempt at a compromise between students and alumni who wanted to retain the traditional Montezuma figure, which was clothed in a loincloth and carried a flaming spear, and others in the student body who thought the mascot was offensive and wanted to discontinue the tradition surrounding Montezuma entirely. The new Ambassador Montezuma wears a traditional Aztec costume including a tunic, cape, and headdress with turkey feathers that was designed by Holly Poe Durbin, an assistant professor of costume design with input from Chicano Studies lecturer Maria Butler, who is an expert in Aztec culture.

"Monty Montezuma was more of an entertainer," explained Alberto Martinez, Jr., the student who portrays Ambassador Montezuma. "As an ambassador, my role is more of an educator; to share, respect, honor, celebrate, and educate people about Aztec culture."

While students at SDSU fear Monty's elimination if the bill is passed, Ilona Turner, a legislative assistant for Goldberg who is tracking the progress of the legislation, claimed that the Aztecs would be unlikely to be affected.

"We hadn't intended to name the Aztecs specifically," Turner told Campus Report. "I could foresee a situation where a team called the Aztecs had a mascot that fell into the first category of being derogatory or discriminatory, like if it was a really offensive war-whooping Native American, but I think that we feel that San Diego State just went through a really long process to revamp their mascot to make it more politically correct, it's now an ambassador, and it would be really hard to prove that that current mascot would be discriminatory."

Turner did note that many elementary and high schools in the state would be affected if the legislation were to be made law. "I think there's about 60 [K through 12 schools] that have those prohibited names," she said.

"There have been numerous organizations in recent years that have spoken out against the use of Native Americans as mascots, and its pretty much been universally found to be discriminatory and unacceptable," Turner told Campus Report, explaining why the bill ought to be made law. "These organizations range from the National Education Association to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to the NAACP, really across the board, everyone says this is not okay…it causes psychological harm to Native American students at those schools, at schools who compete with those schools, to see at their pep rally, you know, 'scalp those Indians, kill those Indians.'"

Despite Turner's reassurances, it is unclear why the bill in its current form which bans the use of "any…American Indian tribal name" would not pertain to the Aztec name or to the new Ambassador Montezuma mascot which has not been well received by Native American students on campus.

"The new university ambassador reminds Native Americans that we are treated like second-class citizens, and we are represented without dignity," members of the Native American Student Activist Organization stated in a press release. "The only accurate depiction of the Aztec culture should be artwork designed by the actual Aztec people."

"It seems like they're mocking the Aztecs even more," one student commented on the attire of Ambassador Montezuma. "It looks like he's going to a costume party."

Student reactions are key to the implementation of the bill because its standard for what is considered "derogatory or discriminatory" is left vague, though the use of American Indian tribal names is banned outright. The bill would also seem to apply to team names and mascots associated with other racial and geographic categories, since it includes a ban on derogatory names associated with "any race, ethnicity, nationality, or tribal group." The University of California at Santa Barbara's mascot, the Gaucho, is defined as "a cowboy of the South American pampas" which combines "the qualities of both Mexican and Indian heritages." It could also become a target of the legislation. Some have even speculated that teams such as the San Jose State Spartans could possibly be affected, since the team name might be considered discriminatory to those possessing Greek heritage.

"Each school would have to decide, well, let's see, do we think that we're at risk for a suit under this new law, and then consider that carefully," explained Turner."I guess the school would have their risk management team determine, are there going to be students suing us for discriminating against them under this. And then it might eventually be something that's settled by the courts, but we hope that it won't have to get that far."

According to Turner, no concerns about the bill's impact on free speech have been raised. "There's a difference between free speech rights of an individual and of a publicly funded institution like a school, where it's absolutely unacceptable to say on the one hand, okay, schools have a responsibility to promote respect for diversity and respect for Native Americans," she told Campus Report. "We just passed a bill last year that required schools to implement curriculum addressing accurate Native American history and contemporary experiences. But then when you make a requirement like that and then at the same time you've got schools with names like Redskins, it's absolutely counterproductive. It's basically institutionalized racism, which absolutely discriminates against Native American students."

Currently, the bill is "really just at the beginning of the [legislative] process," Turner told Campus Report. "The first committee hearing is going to be April 2." While she was unable to predict the bill's chances at success, she did note that it won't die without a fight. "If it doesn't get through this year, it's certainly going to be brought up again in the following years because this is a really important issue," she said.