Menomonie School board discusses budget, Native American Mascots, and subscriptions for agendas and minutes

Busy-beaver Senate Republicans passed a couple of nauseating bills this week, including the controversial measure to make the Gogebic mining site off limits to the public, even though it's on public land and the owner gets a property tax break for allowing hikers passage thorugh the as-yet mostly pristine woodlands. That vote no doubt upset nearby tribal residents on the Bad River reservation, who say the mine would be an environmental disaster for them and others. But the dumber, meaner Republican move was to approve another measure that even more grossly ignores the feelings and rights of native Americans:

With only one Republican in opposition (the inimitable Dale Schultz), the state Senate passed a measure Tuesday making it much easier for schools in Wisconsin to keep Indian team names and mascots. All Democrats joined Schultz in opposing the measure. This is just the latest Republican goofball populism. What a laughing stock this state is becoming nationwide, and in such a rush, too. But the mascot issue isn't just about laughs, it's about denigrating a certain class of citizens in this country by discounting their view that such team names are often abusive and distasteful.

Both bills now go to the Assembly and likely will pass through the GOP majority there. Then on to Gov. Scott Walker, who says he has not yet decided whether he would sign the school measure. This is, of course, the governor who is also treading water as he considers whether to approve a new tribal casino in Kenosha, despite his past efforts to defer on the matter to the tribes themselves. Campaign money truly does talk, apparently.

The GOP is also the political party in Wisconsin that has been quite aggressive in taking away local controls on matters like mass transit or environmental protection or running local government itself ("home rule"? we don't need no steenkin' home rule!) but which paradoxically seems all too happy to protect local decisions if they are in accord with the GOP ideological mindset.

Well, here's a thought experiment for the governor and his party: You don't think the Mukwonago High School "Indians" mascot and logo is racist and insensitive to many native American citizens of this state? Well, then, do you think an NFL team in Green Bay named the "Redskins" would have been okay?

And if those monikers are okay by you, then would it be equally okay if a native American high school in this state today decided it would begin to use for its team name the "Palefaces"? Of course you wouldn't. You would instead be outraged. Well, many of your constituents (and not just native Americans) are outraged at the implicit racism of allowing allusions to native Americans for mostly or all-white sports teams, without measure or consultation.

Hey, at the very least, you'd think fiscally conservative profit-takers would insist that the schools license those names in exchange for giving willing tribes cold cash. I doubt any tribe would ever agree. But the thought experiment is not over. Try naming your team the Mukwonago Oreos and then see what happens.

This is no small matter. The online Racial Slur Database lists "indian" as a slur against native Americans, because "Indians come from India, not North/South America. Offensive because original American settlers from Europe completely misnamed them."

Thus, State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), an African American, nailed it when she said on the floor during debate:

"You can't call me a nigger and it's OK. We should not be able to call them savages, redskins or even Indians."

Blogger Democurmudgeon had it right last June: "Conservatives aren't racists, they just like racist mascots."

That's about the size of it, in the increasingly coarse, you-versus-him state of Fitzwalkerstan.

In a recent interview with Governor Scott Walker, he was asked about a bill that seeks to weaken Wisconsin's already weak law on racist school mascots, he indicated he would sign the bill, saying, "where do you draw the line on free speech?"   While it is true that racist mascots such as the NFL's Washington Redskins (or any other private business) are broadly protected under the Constitution's free speech protections, the "we can name our business anything we want" argument doesn't apply to Wisconsin's public schools.    Wisconsin public schools aren't businesses-- at least not yet.  Public schools don't have any First Amendment rights-- they're part of a larger statewide school system and can be regulated the same way the state can dictate statewide standards such as the number of hours per week of physical education. As Milwaukee attorney Brian Pierson correctly points out,  "A school district doesn't have a First Amendment right to adopt an Indian mascot any more than it has a First Amendment right to adopt the swastika as school symbol or 'white supremacy' as school slogan."   Even if individual school districts did have First Amendment rights, the state could exert control as it usually does:  By limiting state funding to schools that have racist mascots.    But, of course, the issue for Walker isn't really the First Amendment; it's that he is running for President in 2016 and doesn't want to appear to the knuckle-draggers that vote in the GOP primaries as someone who is bullied by those concerned about racism... err, political correctness.   In Walker's Wisconsin, there is a safe place for the Pekin Chinks, Dickinson Savages and the Frisco Coons, which have all gone extinct in other states.   Perhaps a clever school district with an enlightened school board will create a mascot that will get under the skin of Republicans that insist ethnic mascots are a compliment and not an insult.  How about a team called the "Tea Partiers" with a pot-bellied, bald middle aged white guy mascot roaming the sidelines at football games yelling "Don't tread on me!" or how about the "Crackers," with an albino as a mascot, performing yoga during halftime shows, and stopping every once in a while for a sip of Starbucks.   The possabilities are endless!