By Christian Gaston | cgaston@oregonian.com
on February 24, 2014 at 6:29 PM, updated February 24, 2014 at 7:28 PM
A bill allowing some Oregon schools to retain their Native American mascots in spite of a statewide ban drew a mixed reaction from lawmakers Monday.
Lawmakers passed a similar bill last year but Gov. John Kitzhaber vetoed it, saying its exemption to a blanket ban adopted by the Oregon Board of Education in 2012 was too broad.
Senate Bill 1509 kicks the issue back to the board, charging it with setting up new rules for acceptable mascots in consultation with Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes.
Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, who sponsored the original bill told members of the House Education Committee the compromise strikes the right balance.
“This is round two and this time we got it right,” Kruse said.
Sam Sachs, a member of the Portland Human Rights Commission, said by passing the bill lawmakers were tacitly approving of race-based mascots which harm Native American students.
“It’s a bad road to go down,” Sachs told lawmakers. “We’ve been on this path for eight years to eliminate the use of Native American mascots. It doesn’t make sense to in five weeks overturn that.”
Sachs said if lawmakers are going to pass the bill, Gov. John Kitzhaber should form a taskforce to study the impacts of Native American mascots on students. Studies reviewed by the Oregon Department of Education showed such mascots left Native American youth with a poor self image.
Rep. Jeff Reardon, D-Portland, said he agonized over the vote. While Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes would be consulted under the bill, he worried about Native American students that didn’t belong to an Oregon tribe losing their voice in the process.
“I want to advance the cause of education for Native Americans but I want to do that for all,” Reardon said. “How do we have any kind of agreement that doesn’t take into account necessarily all of the kids?”
During the meeting Rep. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, raised his voice in response to a lawmaker who suggested not all schools with Native American mascots were hot beds of discrimination.
“It offends me that people don’t pay attention to research,” Gorsek said, waiving a file folder in the air.
The committee advanced the bill to the House floor for a vote. Gorsek and Reardon voted no. The Oregon Senate unanimously approved the bill.
— Christian Gaston