SACRAMENTO, CA - As the famous adage has it, tragedy is sometimes repeated as farce. In California, farce is often repeated as farce. The latest exhibit comes in the form of a new bill by Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles).

Assembly Bill 2115 would forbid any public high school or college in California from naming its sports teams Redskins, Indians, Braves, Chiefs, Apaches, Comanches, or anything “derogatory or discriminatory” to racial, ethnic, national, or tribal groups. The motivating force for the bill is that the author finds them offensive. “I don’t think you need to have school mascots that offend people,” she told reporters, who found several professional ethnics who shared Goldberg’s view. One claimed to have had a nose job because the painting of the school mascot on the gymnasium wall had a prominent proboscis.

This same quarrel played out several years ago over the Washington Redskins. Everyone was assured that this was the number-one issue with every Native American in the country. Then it turned out that it was only important to a few activists, who duly appeared on talk shows. The feud quickly faded. The Redskins are still the Redskins, though the St. John’s Redmen changed their name to the “Red Storm.” This is where it should have ended, but the cause is perfect for the politically correct and their endless search for helpless victims.

AB 2115 has no grandfather clause. The more than 60 institutions statewide with such names will have to change them, a costly process. Uniforms, murals, merchandise, marquees, signs, stationery, sports equipment, student-store merchandise, and other items will all have to go. Under AB 2115, the state picks up the tab. This is a state that is currently running a heavy deficit, which raises a larger issue.

This is a classic case of politically correct meddling in local affairs by a state that is doing a poor job with its own issues and looking for new ways to shake down taxpayers. This is a state with, as PRI will soon show in a new study, tens of billions in education waste alone. And there is plenty to be offended about in California’s public education system without considering team names.

Once a national leader in student achievement, California now languishes near the bottom. Fiscal chaos and corruption plague districts such as San Francisco. Los Angeles, Jackie Goldberg’s home turf, has spent nearly $200 million on one high school that has yet to serve a single student, and they want to run the bill up to nearly $300 million. Despite charter schools, parents still have little choice over their children’s education, leaving many trapped in failed inner-city schools.

Those eager to be offended might also consider California school buildings, all constructed at the highest possible expense. Folsom Prison is Notre Dame Cathedral compared to the average California school, which resembles a warehouse for chain-saw parts.

Local schools and colleges should name their own teams with input from all. The rest of us should live with their decisions. As for legislators, they should quit wasting our time and money. And like Ted Turner and Jane Fonda at Atlanta Braves games, they should give the tomahawk chop to this bill, a lot more offensive than the name of any sports team in the Golden State.

K. Lloyd Billingsley is editorial director of the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. He can be reached via email at klbillingsley@pacificresearch.org.