The Alliance Against Racial Mascots (ALLARM) is seeking the elimination of American Indian mascots, logos, team names and nicknames in all California schools and educational institutions. We began our work in 1996 in an effort to abolish racial mascots, logos and team names in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). In September of 1997 as a result of our efforts, the LAUSD board voted to eliminate "Indian" mascots in all district schools. ALLARM was formalized in November 2000, and began its efforts to eliminate such mascots in all California schools.

In March 2001, ALLARM participated in a letter writing campaign to the United States Commission on Civil Rights asking for support on the issue. On April 13, the USCCR made a formal statement denouncing the use of Indian mascots in schools. More recently, we filed complaints with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which resulted in the revocation of all personalized license plates with the racial epithet, "REDSKINS," or any spelling variation thereof.

In 2002, we sponsored legislation to eliminate racial mascots in California public schools. Assembly Bill 2115 (Goldberg) received extraordinary grassroots support and was approved by three separate committees, before being debated and voted down on the floor of the Assembly. On February 20, 2003 AB 858 was introduced to the California State Legislature. It was Goldberg's and ALLARM's second attempt at passing legislation of this kind. AB 858 successfully passed out of two committees and earned the support of the California Nations Indian Gaming Associatoin (CNIGA). On June 15, 2003, AB 858 fell four votes short of passage.

The bill was taken up for reconsideration by the California State Assembly and on January 29, 2004 a revised version of AB 858 passed with 42 "aye" votes, 20 "noes" and 17 absetentions. On June 9, 2004 AB 858 passed out of the Senate Education Committee with 7 "ayes" and 1 "no" vote. The bill continues to make its way through the California State Senate.