SPRINGFIELD — Following a wave of schools and professional sports teams over the last 20 years scaling back usage of Native American-themed names, imagery, mascots and logos, the Democrat-led Illinois House has advanced legislation that aims to place a statewide ban on such usage from elementary through high schools.
The legislation has the potential to affect scores of schools across Illinois, though that is still a small percentage of the thousands of schools in the state and the bill doesn’t carry any penalties if schools ignore the measure.
Still, the bill calls for banning schools from using Native American names, logos or mascots that include federally recognized tribes, historical Native American people or tribal groups. It also calls for prohibiting terms such as Redskins, Braves, Chiefs, Chieftains, Tribe and Indians from being used and barring depictions of feathered headdresses, tomahawks, arrowheads or spears, arrows or other weapons “if in combination with a feather or feathers.”
If the bill were to become law, the measure would allow schools to continue using uniforms or materials with the names, logos or mascots until Sept. 1, 2030, if those schools devise a plan to adopt a new team name by July 1, 2026.
Democratic state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford, the bill’s main sponsor, said the 2030 deadline gives schools time to change logos on jerseys and on stadium or gymnasium marquees, while Republican lawmakers who opposed the legislation said it would be costly. In addition, schools under the legislation may continue using a team name of a “federally recognized tribe or historical Native American person” if they get written permission from representatives of the tribe, among other conditions.
West’s measure was one of two anti-discrimination-themed bills he pushed through the House this week centering around school sports. The other — aimed at a downstate high school whose team nickname is considered a dwarfism slur — prohibits schools, including universities, from adopting nicknames, mascots and other imagery depicting what the state deems “discriminatory disabilities.”
Both bills passed the House and now move to the state Senate for consideration. But, notably, neither bill contains any enforcement mechanisms. West said his hope is the local school boards will voluntarily abide by the measures.
A 2020 Tribune article about Native American culture becoming less prevalent in sports stated there were about 50 schools in Illinois that use Native American imagery or names, such as “Warriors,” as mascots. West said information he received from the Illinois Association of School Boards suggested that total was closer to 90 for public schools alone.
Les Begay, co-founder of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Coalition of Illinois, championed the legislation, saying society has changed and is not as tolerant of Native American imagery and name usage in sports. He cited Washington, D.C.’s NFL team changing its name from “Redskins” to “Commanders” and Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team renaming itself the “Guardians” from the “Indians” as recent examples.
Closer to home, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign rid itself of Chief Illiniwek in the mid-2000s following years of protests.
“It’s 2025. It’s time to get rid of these images and mascots that perpetuate old stereotypes and dehumanize Native people,” said Begay, an enrolled member of the Diné Nation. “There’s so much pushback from Native nations on this that it’s just time that these old stereotypes go away. It’s not honoring us. It may be tradition, but traditions can be broken.”
West said he proposed the measure “for the vitality and the mental health of our young people.”
“This is not a diss toward tradition,” he said during the debate on the House floor Thursday. “This is (about) uplifting people. That’s what’s more important than anything.”
Representatives of some schools that could be affected by the legislation did not return messages seeking comment.
But GOP lawmakers expressed their disdain toward the measure.
State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer said Illinois’ name originates from the Illiniwek Indians and asked, “Are we going to change the name of our state?” He also defended the Native American-themed team names and mascots as an homage to history.
“When we look at mascots, what is a mascot? Is that something we make fun of? Is that something we walk across? Is that something we stomp down? Or is that something we hold up and revere?” Davidsmeyer, of Jacksonville, asked during floor debate. “Our communities celebrate these as a representation of our athletics and our courage and our bravery, and all these different things. And you want to get rid of it because some random person wants to be offended by something.”
But state Rep. Mary Beth Canty, an Arlington Heights Democrat, countered that the history behind the names and mascots is not desirable.
“I don’t think that the best way forward is to look for ways that we can continue to exalt racism in our country because that is a big part of our history, that is where a lot of these mascots come from,” she said. “If I had to choose between being forgotten or remembered as some buck-toothed caricature with a feather sticking out of my hat, I think I’d rather that you forgot me.”
Begay, the Diné Nation member, said the House’s passage of the bill shows how support for the Native American community has extended beyond its usual bubble.
“One of the issues that we have as Native people is that we’re such a small minority that in order for the change to occur,” he said, “we have to get non-Native people to support us.”
West’s other measure that passed through the House, dubbed the Prohibition of Discriminatory Disability Mascots Act, only targets one school: Freeburg Community High School and its team name, the Midgets. It’s situated in Freeburg, a town of about 4,500 located in the Metro East region of Illinois near St. Louis.
According to the school district’s website, the Midgets moniker has been around 90 years and was given to a basketball team at the high school by a sportswriter at a local newspaper. During the 1934-35 season, the site says, the team was small with the tallest player at 5 feet 10.
“The size of the team did not seem to handicap the team since it felt that it could overcome the lack of height with ‘fast break’ tactics,” the website states. It also states the “Midgets” has been “the loyal team name for many hundreds” of Freeburg High alums and “is now held as an affectionate and respectful label.”
The bill defines a “discriminatory disability mascot” as “any name, logo, or mascot that is derogatory or representative of an individual or group based on disability, as defined by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act,” and it applies to K-12 schools, public universities and community colleges.
According to the legislation, a school may continue using uniforms or other materials bearing a prohibited name, logo or mascot before this would become law, and until Sept. 1, 2028. Before that date, a school must take steps that include selecting a new athletic team name and insignia and refrain from “purchasing, acquiring, or using resources” to sell material with the banned name and its accompanying imagery.
During the House debate on the bill on Tuesday, West said that while he lives 300 miles from the high school, he was asked by various advocates to back the legislation because of his support for mascot reform.
“This is something that is exploiting a community and there is injustice,” West said. “An inkling of injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
State Rep. Kevin Schmidt, a Republican from Millstadt whose district covers Freeburg, took exception to West inserting himself in an issue in his district and said the bill was an example of government overreach.
“The history of this mascot is, they had a smaller basketball team many years ago and a local paper called them the Midgets. And they said, ‘You know what? We’re going to embrace that. We’re small, we’re mighty and we win.’ And they are very proud of that mascot. They love that mascot,” Schmidt said. “All the private stores in town are going to sell the shirts. It’s going to blow up. It’s not going to have the effect that you want.”
“You don’t understand the community,” Schmidt also said. “You don’t understand the history. It’s our culture.”
The superintendent of the Freeburg High School district did not return calls seeking comment.
But state Rep. Laura Faver Dias, a Democrat from Grayslake, called the Freeburg Community High School team name “divisive and harmful.”
“The purpose of a mascot is to bring camaraderie, to create goodwill, to create spirit,” she said. “Why are we doing this in the state legislature? Because the school board wouldn’t respond. The advocates of this bill went to the school board in Freeburg repeatedly to educate them, to lobby them. I have a child with a disability. If my child’s school used his disability as a mascot? I don’t even know.”
