LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION condemning the promotion and marketing of
dictionary-defined racial slurs as mascots

WHEREAS, Students in Cooperstown, New York, recently declared racial
slurs should not be used as team names and consequently worked with
their school board to stop using the dictionary-defined racial slur
"redskin" as their team's name; and
WHEREAS, Other school boards and city councils across the United
States have followed Cooperstown students' example and taken actions to
stop using the same dictionary-defined racial slur as a team name; and
WHEREAS, The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has
worked to halt the use of dictionary-defined racial slurs as team names;
and
WHEREAS, The United States Government, through the Patent Office, has
identified "redskin" as "a derogatory slang term"; and
WHEREAS, In addition, members of Congress, religious leaders and
sports icons have spoken out against the use of dictionary-defined
racial slurs as team names; and
WHEREAS, Decades of social science research documents the negative
psychological, cultural and public health effects of the public
promotion of dictionary-defined racial slurs by sports teams; and
WHEREAS, This Legislative Body supports the equal treatment of all the
people of New York State and discourages the use of dictionary-defined
racial slurs as school mascots; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to,
out of respect for the diverse heritage of the United States of America,
urge owners of professional sports franchises to follow the lead of the
Cooperstown students and condemn the promotion and marketing of diction-
ary-defined racial slurs, and schools refrain from using them as names
for mascots.