RULING OKS END TO BRAVES; BIRMINGHAM HIGH LOSES INDIAN NAME.Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer After 44 years, Birmingham High School Birmingham High School is a public coeducational high school in the neighborhood/district of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley section of the city of Los Angeles, California. The school is a part of District One of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). will soon no longer be the home of the Braves, a federal court ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins upheld a decision by the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. to do away with the mascot out of concern it was demeaning de·mean 1 tr.v. de·meaned, de·mean·ing, de·means To conduct or behave (oneself) in a particular manner: demeaned themselves well in class. to American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. groups. ``This is a real victory for us,'' said Eugene Herrod, one of those seeking to have the district ban such mascots. ``We've been trying to get this done for a long time. This shows that we are not mascots, we are human beings.'' Attorneys for those seeking to overturn the school board's decision did not return telephone calls. ``Right now, we can go ahead with the board's resolution and, hopefully, develop plans to adopt a new mascot and begin a new era at Birmingham,'' said Howard Friedman, an attorney for the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) board. The school was closed Monday for spring break. Friedman said the campus would include students and alumni in the search for a new mascot. Former students, who were the most vocal in their support for the Braves symbol, say it is meant to honor American Indians American Indians: see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the; Natives, Middle American; Natives, North American; Natives, South American. . They argue the board was bowing to pressure over political correctness, rather than looking at the reality of what the symbol meant to students. The judge also ruled that Jim Pitillo and a group called Save Our Braves formed to fight the school district can continue their lawsuit against the district over their right to sell Braves T-shirts for their organization. |
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