District Ban on Indian Nicknames Is Upheld

Ruling against fans of the Birmingham High School Braves, a federal judge upheld a Los Angeles Unified School District policy Monday banning schools from using nicknames and mascots based on American Indians.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins forces the removal of dozens of paintings and logos at Birmingham High in Van Nuys, where alumni and boosters challenged the policy in an effort to save the school’s mascot, adopted 45 years ago.

Some Native Americans rejoiced in the ruling as a victory for a multi-pronged drive to wipe out the widespread American custom of nicknaming sports teams after Indians, from high school to the professional leagues.

“We are overjoyed. We are very glad it has finally happened,” said Eugene Herrod of Advocates for American Indian Children. “It took a long time, a lot of work, a lot of frustration. This shows that we are not mascots, we are human beings.”

Herrod’s organization is among dozens of Native American groups that have been working since 1975 to eliminate the use of American Indian names and mascots. He said a suit is now pending against the Washington Redskins football team, and a complaint has been filed with the state Board of Education to stop Arcadia High School from using an Apache Indian as its mascot.

Action also is planned next fall against Burroughs High School in Burbank, which uses the nickname Indians, Herrod said. Another nickname under attack is the Alemany High School Indians in Mission Hills.

Herrod called the use of Indian nicknames demeaning. “Ugly little mascots on the walls can be very offensive in the way they are used,” he said.

The plaintiffs--Birmingham alumni who support the traditional nickname--said they will study the ruling, which had not yet been released by the court Monday, before deciding if they will appeal. They contended in a suit filed in January that the district policy “is unconstitutionally over broad in that ‘Brave’ or ‘Braves’ and ‘Warrior’ or ‘Warriors’ are not names of American Indians.”

Although the district policy was upheld, the judge let stand a second portion of the suit charging the district violated constitutional free speech rights by banning the sale at school athletic events of privately manufactured T-shirts that read “Save the Braves, 44 Years of Pride.”

Jim Pitillo, a 1964 Birmingham graduate who filed the suit, and his attorney, Frank Arrigo, another alumni, were arrested for trespassing in September at the Van Nuys campus where they were allegedly selling the T-shirts at a football game just after the district policy on mascots was adopted.

That portion of the suit will still be heard in federal court.

With that portion of the action pending, the court ruling “is kind of a mixed bag,” said Howard Friedman, assistant general counsel for the school district. However, he said the substantive issue on mascots is settled and the district was never concerned about the outcome. “I don’t think we took it seriously in that there was any real chance of the plaintiff succeeding.”

The district Board of Education last month allocated $374,000 to the four schools in the district that employ American Indian mascots. The funds will be used to repaint buildings decorated with portrayals of the outlawed mascots with new ones and to purchase new uniforms for teams, bands and cheerleaders and other items such as book covers and bass drum faces.

The largest chunk--$174,000--was allocated to Birmingham, which has logos on walls, floors and fields throughout the sprawling campus.

Among new slogans being considered at Birmingham, which was built as a World War II Army hospital, is “Home of the brave,” using the line from the national anthem and possibly an American flag as the symbol, said several of the school’s boosters.

John Orendorff, director of the school district’s American Indian Education Commission, who led the fight for the policy change last September, called the federal ruling “vindication for something that we have been asking for for 17 years.”

Calling the Birmingham alumni suit “frivolous,” he said “I hope that other schools in the area, the state and the nation will realize it is a practice whose time has come to end. We don’t generally have the power to affect change. But we got that here in Los Angeles. I think it is going to have a momentous affect.”

But Lou Ramirez, Birmingham athletic director, said he was surprised by the news. “I obviously am very disappointed. Most everyone wanted to keep ‘the Braves,’ because we felt we were honoring, not denigrating, American Indians. It is always disappointing when you think you are doing something good and find out you are doing something bad.”

Birmingham has until the end of the semester in June to select a new mascot. A school-wide vote to select a new name ended with several suggestions but no clear majority. Offerings included Buccaneers, Bears, Blue Devils and Golden Eagles.

The most popular choice, written in on ballots from which it had been left off, was Braves, some school administrators said.

A new election is expected to be held this month.

School was not in session this week because of spring break, but the court’s decision was met with anger and frustration by athletes at a school track practice.

“I think the whole thing is ridiculous,” said Mateo Gonzalez, 16. “Nobody wants to change from Braves. We came in this school as Braves and we want to leave as Braves. What’s wrong with that?”

Gonzalez’s track teammate Ericka Dolezal, 17, said students at the school regard the nickname as promoting a positive image. “I don’t think we do anything to offend anyone,” she said. “We try our best to honor the name Braves.”

Track coach Scott King said the controversy may have had a positive effect: “It’s forcing us to be more careful and sensitive. . . . I think we’ve all learned from it, and if somehow they let us stay the Braves, we intend on honoring that name more than ever.”

Willman is a Times staff writer and Becker is a correspondent.