Bill Would Ban Local School’s ‘Race-Based’ Name

As pressure builds for professional sports teams like the Washington Redskins to change their longtime team name or nickname, local high schools could be facing the same kind of change.  Many schools in the Capital Region have nicknames or mascots that are linked directly to Native American heritage and it's possible that schools such as Colonie, Corinth and Ravena to name a few, could be nixing their current nickname or mascot for one that's more socially acceptable.

James Allen from the Times Union wrote about this at length in Monday's edition of the paper. Allen wrote about a proposed bill that may become a law, and if that happens, there are as many as 16 schools in the Capital Region that could be forced to make these changes.   According to the Times Union, schools would have three years to comply.

According to the report, many schools in the area have a plan in place and are seemingly open to the idea of changing their nickname to one that wouldn't be deemed insensitive to Native Americans.  The story in the TU claims that "there are six schools in Section II with the Indians nickname and five more sporting some variation of the word Warriors."

Some of these schools that have "variations" include the Mechanicville Red Raiders, the Colonie Garnet Raiders, the Corinth Tomahawks and the Fonda Braves.

Chrissy and I spent some time talking about this morning on the show and took a few calls from GNA listeners who offered their own insight into the matter.  Here's what they said: