California banned the word "Redskins" from being used as an athletic team name, mascot, or nickname in all public schools when it passed the California Racial Mascots Act on Sunday.
According to the Los Angeles Times, four schools will be immediately affected by the ban and forced to find new mascot and team names by 2017.
"I haven't heard anyone, not one person, that agrees with the ban," said Mello Harris, running back on the town of Tulare's undefeated football team. "We're the Redskin Warriors — we've made it into a positive. I just don't understand, we're not trying to offend anyone."
"We had a letter from our local tribe saying they supported us. If they don't have a problem how can we be causing offense?" said Mello's mother, Tulare Union High School Principal Michelle Nunley, referring to the Tule River Band of Indians.
On the other side of the debate is Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter, who has long campaigned for the NFL to change the name of the Washington Redskins.
"[California's] historic step to build a better future stands in stark contrast to the dogged inaction of Washington's NFL team, which in the face of all the evidence that this term degrades and offends Native Americans, continues to defend and promote the slur for its own financial gain," Halbritter said in a statement.
"The most populous state in the country has now taken a stand against the use of this insidious slur in its schools, and Change the Mascot expects more states to follow."
According to CBS, the passage of the new legislation a year after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rescinded the "Redskins" trademark of the Washington NFL team, a decision that is being appealed.
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