MASCOTS MATTER AND REP. MAURICE WEST INTRODUCE LANDMARK BILL TO PROTECT DISABILITY COMMUNITIES
'There are currently five high schools in the U.S. that use 'Midget' as a mascot, a term that has long been considered offensive by the disability community.' — Rachel Wherley, Founder & Co-Director, Mascots Matter
SPRINGFIELD, IL, UNITED STATES, February 10, 2025 / EINPresswire.com / -- Mascots Matter, a national grassroots advocacy campaign dedicated to ending the use of derogatory and discriminatory mascots, team names, and logos, with an emphasis on Dwarfism, is proud to announce its collaboration with Illinois State Representative Maurice West on groundbreaking legislation. The proposed bill seeks to prohibit public educational institutions from using mascots or imagery that perpetuate harmful stereotypes or discriminate against individuals based on disability.
The bill, titled 'Prohibition of Discriminatory Disability Mascots Act' ( HB3527), aims to ensure that all public educational environments foster respect and inclusivity, aligning with the principles of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Key Provisions of the Proposed Legislation:
• Definition of Discriminatory Mascots: The bill defines a discriminatory disability mascot as 'any name, logo, or imagery derogatory or representative of a disability, aligning with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).'
• Interpretation of Public Educational Institutions: Public educational institutions as defined by the bill, includes any kindergarten through grade 12 school, public university, or community college receiving public funding within the State.
• Timeline for Transition: Existing materials may be used until September 1, 2028, if specific requirements are met. For comprehensive details, please review the full bill text.
• Effective Date: The act will take effect on a date to be determined upon its passage.
An Independent Effort
The Mascots Matter Campaign is a grassroots movement led by adults with dwarfism and parents of children with dwarfism. It is not affiliated with any program or project connected to any national dwarfism organizations.
Why This Legislation Matters
Discriminatory mascots and imagery perpetuate harmful stereotypes and contribute to a culture of exclusion and disrespect for marginalized communities. Research has shown that such representations can negatively impact self-esteem, reinforce stigma, and hinder efforts toward inclusivity. Addressing these issues aligns with broader civil rights advancements and ensures that schools foster a respectful and welcoming environment for all students, including those with disabilities.
Maurice West, Illinois state representative expressed that 'Every student deserves to learn in an environment that is inclusive and respectful. The Prohibition of Discriminatory Disability Mascots Act will ensure that all public schools in Illinois align with our state's values of dignity and equality. No student should feel that they are being represented by a mascot that perpetuates harmful stereotypes. I'm proud to introduce this legislation alongside Mascots Matter and disability advocates who have worked tirelessly to bring this issue to light.'
Erin Elswood, co-director of Mascots Matter, emphasized the campaign's growth: 'Our movement started with a focus on the dwarfism community, but we quickly realized the broader impact mascots can have on all disability communities. This legislation is a crucial step in making sure all students feel included and valued in their schools.'
Shelby Holloway, co-director of Mascots Matter, highlighted the urgency of the bill: 'Illinois has the opportunity to lead the nation in ensuring that public schools do not endorse mascots that demean any group of people. The time for debate has passed; the time for legal action is now.'
Rachel Wherley, founder of Mascots Matter, pointed to the national scope of the issue: 'There are currently five high schools in the U.S. that use 'Midget' as a mascot, a term that has long been considered offensive by the disability community. Our goal is to pass legislation in all of those states, not just Illinois, to put an end to these harmful representations once and for all.'
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook:
@MascotsMatter
For Legislative Inquiries
Office of Rep. Maurice West:
[email protected]
Phone: (815) 987-7433
[email protected]
Visit us on social media:
Legal Disclaimer:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Los Angeles Times
It's no wonder Angelenos are painting crosswalks themselves
On July 22, a feel-good story made headlines in Los Angeles: A cadre of civic-minded volunteers had spent a month of Saturdays coming together to paint crosswalks near Stoner Park in the Sawtelle neighborhood. A concerned resident (and friend of mine), Jonathan Hale, modeled the effort on other DIY crosswalks after he witnessed a series of close calls between pedestrians and cars. Yet, within three days of the reports about the civic effort, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation sent a crew to remove the crosswalks. Why did LADOT act so quickly? It wasn't because the crosswalks were sloppy. Hale had studied the code, and even the local City Council member's representative said it 'looks beautiful.' In California, every stop-sign intersection also legally includes a crosswalk regardless of paint, so the volunteers were only making that visible. One stated concern is lawsuits filed under the Americans With Disabilities Act: L.A. officially requires all crosswalk installations to include curb ramp installations to minimize risk. This legal interpretation is neither universal nor strictly followed in practice. But as former official Diego de la Garza commented, LADOT believes in robust processes, always studying the potential for 'lighting, signals and speed limits' alongside crosswalks. He suggests that merely painting a crosswalk without a holistic approach creates an 'illusion of safety.' In other words, LADOT removed the crosswalks because the city cannot simply make one improvement; its mandate is to study a set of possible improvements whenever considering one. No one who pays attention to Los Angeles will be surprised by this. Scholars talk of measuring a local government by its 'state capacity': how well it manages finances, maintains order and delivers public goods. By these measures, Los Angeles has a legacy marred by ambitious goals gone unexecuted because of a flawed and bloated process. Consider three of former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's ambitious goals: Build 28 public transit projects by the 2028 Olympics, eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2025 and end street homelessness by 2028. Today, only four of the 28 original transit projects are completed. Traffic deaths have gone up from 186 in 2015 to 337 in 2023. And of the $1.2 billion raised in 2016 to build 10,000 units of homeless housing, the city has completed 5,597 units. Since 2018, the number of unsheltered people in the city has increased by 17.8% to 26,972. These failures clearly demonstrate that our local government simply will not get things done quickly and effectively. Consider Vermont Transit Corridor, a bus rapid transit proposal that Metro's former leadership states could have been implemented by 2028 but is now unlikely to be. The delay came when the Metro board stopped the project as conceived to instead study building a rail line (without any funding source). This second-guessing was inspired by vague concerns about racial equity. Or consider sidewalks. A simple monthlong sidewalk repair is routinely delayed by a design and contracting process that takes almost two years, leading to wait times of up to 10 years. One can begin to understand why a couple of years ago in Brentwood, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger resorted to filling potholes himself. The city's homeless housing projects funded by Proposition HHH took an average of three to six years to build, with one taking 18 years because of layers of approvals and a California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit. This is precisely why our vigilante crosswalk painters opted for DIY work: They wanted to see a crosswalk painted, not bogged down by red tape. Thankfully, just seven days after LADOT undid Hale's work, the city repainted the crosswalks. Facing public pressure, the city decided that absolute ADA liability avoidance need not be the priority. And it likely never should have been: Since 2020, L.A. has paid nearly $300 million in liability claims from broken infrastructure and only $1.4 million in ADA lawsuits. But without deeper reforms, we are unlikely to see the city painting more anytime soon: Only days after the crosswalks were removed, emails show that LADOT is refusing to consider street improvements. Why? Because of recent city budget cuts, the department 'no longer has adequate staffing' to consider conducting 'studies' for implementing 'traffic control devices' (i.e., a crosswalk). Rather than simplifying the process, L.A. is throwing up its hands and saying to residents, 'No more crosswalks!' In contrast, consider how Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro famously fixed a broken freeway in 12 days. Then-Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels got average Bureau of Motor Vehicles visit times down to nine minutes. Back in 1994, after the Northridge earthquake, local authorities had the Santa Monica Freeway back in service in less than three months. And recently, when public pressure was applied, even LADOT found the time to remove and repaint crosswalks in 10 days. Los Angeles should be working to streamline every process it can, increasing state capacity and making it easier to do good. But seeing this happen will require a fundamental political reorientation. Moderates must stop pretending the status quo works, and progressives should stop promising ambitious moonshots without first making existing services functional. But most importantly, it requires more citizens like my friends at Stoner Park, who are invested enough in their city to seek reform, ideally with their hands and their votes. Thomas Irwin is an economic development professional for a nonprofit in Los Angeles and a housing organizer with the Faith and Housing Coalition and Eastside Housing for All. He writes 'The Pontification' on Substack.
New York Post
4 days ago
- New York Post
NYC district attorneys will get $17M in new funding to beef up staffing, investigations: Adams
City district attorneys' offices are getting a $17 million influx of cash to beef up staffing and investigations, including on cybercrime, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday. Adams highlighted the record-breaking $633 million total in funding for the five DAs and the office of the special narcotics prosecutor earmarked as part of the city's roughly $116 billion budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which was approved in June. 'I heard from all my DAs that we're having a real personnel issue,' Adams said from the City Hall rotunda alongside four of the district attorneys. Advertisement 'AI can never give way to a good ADA,' he quipped. The boost adds to the $616 million previously allocated for the DAs and special narcotics prosecutor. The district attorneys had said they desperately needed extra money in the already record-breaking fiscal plan — which Adams has dubbed the 'Best Budget Ever' — to hire and retain more prosecutors. Advertisement 3 Funding for district attorneys has increased 23% since the beginning of the Adams administration, according to city hall. REUTERS 'They are the real law and order,' Adams said. 'They are front and center in dealing with public safety, and we are going to make sure we give them the resources to do their job.' Bronx DA Darcel Clark said the new funding, of which her office is getting $6.08 million, will allow her overworked office to hire 24 new assistant district attorneys and to fully staff a Youth Justice Bureau to help address gun violence and recidivism among young people. 'These funds are a game changer for the criminal justice system,' Clark said. Advertisement 3 Bronx DA Darcel Clark said the money will be used to hire more prosecutors and to fully staff a youth diversion program. James Messerschmidt Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, whose office is getting a $2.98 million boost, said the windfall will be a 'critical piece' of keeping assistant district attorneys on the job, 'in particular the mid-level prosecutors, those that are really carrying a very important part of our docket.' 'We have attrition in that area, so this will really help us with those ranks,' Bragg said. Queens DA Melinda Katz was 'happy and grateful' for the extra $1.75 million her office was allocated to build a new crime lab to process digital evidence, she said. Advertisement Staten Island DA Michael McMahon said his office was given $970,000 to hire more staff to deal with rising cyber crime. 'Just two days ago, a 76 year old woman scammed out of $209,000 — her lifetime savings — and it was through a cyber scam,' McMahon noted. 'This will allow all kinds of technological abilities to go after those who are taking advantage of too many.' 3 Staten Island DA Michael McMahon said his office will use the money on new technology to help prosecute cyber criminals. Michael McWeeney Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez couldn't make the news conference because of a planned vacation, Adams said, but his office is getting an extra $5.6 million to hire 20 new ADAs and six paralegals to reduce case backlogs and help meet discovery evidence requirements. 'A strong city is a safe city and that is why our city is strong right now. Because we focus on it being safe,' Adams said as he held up The Post's Tuesday front page about shootings in New York City hitting at an all-time low so far this year. The Adams administration allocated the largest share of the $633 million — $180 million — to the Manhattan DA's office. Brooklyn received $157.9 million; the Bronx received $128.3 million; Queens received $108.1 million; Staten Island received $27 million; and the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's office received $31.7 million. Adams held the press conference the day before revamped state discovery laws take effect. Advertisement The new laws, which are designed to make discovery requirements less burdensome by reducing the scope of materials prosecutors have to provide, also came with more money from the state, McMahon said. 'We also received additional funding for discovery from the state, and working that with the money from the mayor today, that will allow our offices to have the tools and the resources and the personnel to get that voluminous (discovery) material,' McMahon said.
Time Business News
6 days ago
- Time Business News
U.S. Strategic Crypto Reserve: Why XRP Could Be America's Next Digital Asset Play
In a bold departure from traditional fiscal planning, former President Donald Trump has unveiled a wardrobe of national digital assets, signaling a major policy transformation in Washington—one that places XRP, Solana, Cardano, Bitcoin, and Ethereum at the heart of a new U.S. crypto strategic reserve. On March 2, Trump directed the President's Working Group on Digital Assets to progress toward establishing a federal digital reserve. His initial announcement focused on XRP, SOL, and ADA—later expanding the roster to include BTC and ETH as foundational assets. The move immediately reverberated across markets, igniting a one-day crypto rally that pushed the total capitalization of digital assets up by nearly $300 billion, with XRP surging approximately 30% in hours. Supporters argue that XRP's U.S. origins, its lightning-fast settlement times, and ultra-low transaction fees uniquely qualify it as a strategic digital asset. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been an outspoken advocate (and active lobbyist), pushing for XRP to be the centerpiece in government-led innovation. In contrast, Bitcoin maximalists see XRP's centralized supply and close ties to its parent company as incompatible with crypto's decentralized ideals. Industry voices like Pierre Rochard have vocally opposed the elevation of XRP over decentralized rivals. Price action was swift: XRP vaulted from about $2.20 to nearly $2.90 , before stabilizing near $2.50 . vaulted from about , before stabilizing near . SOL climbed ~20%, and ADA briefly spiked as much as 50–70%. climbed ~20%, and briefly spiked as much as 50–70%. The combined crypto market cap surged by ~10% in just hours. Crypto wallets for XRP saw an explosive 620% jump in activity over one week—evidence of revived investor interest since Trump's announcement. Yet, these gains were short-lived. Within days, prices receded back toward pre-announcement levels, reflecting broader concerns over volatility and regulatory ambiguity. Trump's announcement comes alongside a broader shift in U.S. crypto policy. It aligns with an executive order banning Federal Reserve development of a CBDC, reaffirming his administration's preference for market-led innovation. A White House crypto summit is set to unpack further details. Critics cite major concerns: Asset volatility : Cryptocurrencies are fundamentally more erratic than traditional reserves. : Cryptocurrencies are fundamentally more erratic than traditional reserves. Centralized influence : XRP's governance structure remains contentious among decentralization advocates. : XRP's governance structure remains contentious among decentralization advocates. Regulatory gaps: Unclear protocols for acquiring, storing, and managing crypto reserves expose legal and financial risks. Key questions loom as momentum builds: How will the government fund and store its crypto holdings? its crypto holdings? Will Congress or regulatory bodies shape oversight or eligibility criteria ? ? Could Ripple's lobbying efforts face scrutiny, particularly around alleged influence over XRP's inclusion? Some reports indicate former Trump allies may have pushed XRP's placement behind closed doors. The inclusion of XRP in a U.S. strategic reserve marks a watershed moment. It reflects a shift toward embracing crypto assets beyond Bitcoin, while also intensifying debate over the nature of decentralized finance, regulatory clarity, and public policy influence. For now, XRP sits in the spotlight—poised between opportunity and controversy. Its future as a government-backed digital asset remains to be fully revealed. Source: TIME BUSINESS NEWS
