NorCal school desperately trying to keep nickname after state racial mascots ban

A Greater Sacramento-area high school is trying to blast through the loophole in a state law banning racial mascots so that it can keep its “Indians” nickname.

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In September 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the California Racial Mascots Act into law, which bans any “derogatory Native American term” as a team name, nickname or mascot. When the law went into effect last Wednesday, K-12 schools whose mascots did not comply with this law had to change them.

This includes Marysville High School, which has gone as “the Indians” for nearly 100 years. But rather than find an alternative nickname, the school is trying to use a caveat built into the language of the law that would let it keep its technically now-former name. If a school receives “written consent from a local federally recognized tribe,” then it can keep its “derogatory” name, which Indian is specifically listed as.

The plan is to simply find a tribe who will co-sign the school’s nickname. There’s just one problem, according to a statement from the Marysville Joint Unified School District published June 30: Local tribes don’t want to touch this issue.

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“District administration met with local tribal representatives and sought support to retain the Marysville High School Indians mascot. However, the District was unable to obtain the required written consent. Tribal representatives chose to remain neutral regarding the district’s request, neither supporting nor opposing the continued use of the mascot,” the statement read.

While it’s not clear when Marysville Joint Unified’s plan to get permission began, many other schools were able to address this issue months, if not years, ago in either direction. The Coachella Valley region’s Palm Springs High School, which also goes by the “Indians,” got written consent from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in 2020 to keep the nickname as long as the school removed offensive imagery and its physical mascot. The Clark Intermediate School in Clovis got permission from the local North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians to keep “Chieftains” as a nickname last December. Orange County’s Fullerton Union High School changed its “Indians” name in April after local tribes asked it to. Sanger High School got approval from the North Fork Rancheria and the Lipan Apache Band to keep its “Apaches” nickname in May.

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Still, this does not appear to have deterred the school district, which says Marysville High will not search for an interim mascot. The statement later adds that the district “will continue pursuing opportunities to obtain written permission from a local, federally recognized tribe that would allow Marysville High School to retain its historic mascot under the provisions of state law.”

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District superintendent Jordan Reeves did not respond to SFGATE’s questions about the ongoing status of Maryville’s mascot before the time of publication. SFGATE also reached out to Gov. Newsom’s office for comment but did not receive a response.

Given that the school has temporarily dropped its mascot, it’s not violating the law, meaning there’s no official deadline for Marysville to resolve this. The closest thing to a deadline could be the football team’s season opener on Aug. 28, when the school would ostensibly be forced to take the field with new helmets, new logos and no nickname if the steadfast neutrality of local tribes holds firm.