Mascots: Cheer On and Cheer Up

Re “Mascot Bill May Snare Normans, Saxons Too,” May 6: I am part Cherokee and Canadian Indian, and along with my immediate family and all of our relatives it is something we are extremely proud of. I am appalled that some would think it is an insult to have a Native American name/logo used as a mascot. If anything, it is an honor.

A mascot is something that is cherished and rooted for. Is it so offensive to hear “Go Redskins” or “Win Redskins”? Truly, a well-organized minority can make a law or change a law and not be speaking for the rest of us. Even if the majority of Native Americans in California are, in their bitterness of views, trying to eliminate Indians from being mascots, they do not speak for this proud Indian girl or many of my Indian friends, and I hope that they will not be successful in this endeavor.

Alicia “Turtle” Polega

Lansing, Mich.

*

Regardless of what you may think of Republicans, at least back when they were a significant presence in Sacramento the Legislature would debate weighty issues like the environment, immigration, taxes and social spending.

The only thing Democrats seem to disagree on is whether sodas should be sold in schools or if team mascots with names like the Vikings or Apaches are offensive. These issues should be decided in student elections at the local schools, not by leaders of the fifth-largest economy in the world.

Ken Andrews

Fountain Valley

*

David Klump (letter, May 7) wondered if Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg’s (D-Los Angeles) bill might be amended to include banning the naming of vehicle models after Indian tribes, such as Tacoma, Cherokee and Apache. What makes us think it will stop there?

If a group is offended by a football team’s name, next in line will be streets, cities, parks, stadiums, rivers, lakes and on and on, until one day our country will consist of only names of trees, flowers, fruits and vegetables; generic and boring but nonoffending. (Animal names will undoubtedly be out because of outcries from animal rights groups.) Gone will be the colorful, descriptive names that paint a picture of the history of our great country.

Granted, we should never use a name to disgrace or humiliate any person or race, but would the tribes have us obliterate every reference to them until all will have forgotten they ever existed?

Judy Lacey

La Verne