AMERICAN INDIAN/ NATIVE ALASKAN CAUCUS CHEERS ENACTMENT OF TWO KEY MEASURES
Storyteller David Garcia demonstrates the use of rhythm sticks employed in Chumash music and dance.
Caucus Chair Mary Levi briefs participants in the celebration about AB 30 (Alejo), the CTA-backed bill that bars California schools and universities from using mascots that are racial caricatures.
More than 100 State Council members joined the American Indian/Alaska Native Caucus for a celebration Saturday night of two key legislative victories and a moving presentation by a renowned Chumash Storyteller, David Garcia.
Participants cheered as Caucus Chair Mary Levi recounted the enactment of two CTA-supported measures that phase out the use of racial mascots and provide a new credential to help preserve Native American language and culture.
AB 30 by Assemblymember Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) makes California the first state to bar schools and colleges from using racial slurs aimed at Native Americans.
AB 163, by Assembly Member Das Williams (D-Carpinteria), creates the American Indian Language and Culture Credential, a new certification enacted at the urging of the Chumash tribe. It will support teaching of heritage and language, particularly to Native American students.
During his presentation, Garcia told traditional stories, including ones that drove home the importance of maintaining courage in the face of adversity.
Garcia and Levi both addressed the caucus’ next legislative target: getting California to change the official name of the Oct. 12 holiday to “Indigenous People’s Day.”
Garcia said that Native Americans had no need to be “discovered” by European explorers since they had been living on the continent for thousands of years.American Indian/ Native Alaskan Caucus Cheers Enactment of Two Key Measures - California Teachers Association:
