The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

Amid accusations of racism, Republicans in the state Senate passed a measure Tuesday making it much easier for Mukwonago High School and others around the state to keep their Indian team names.

The bill now goes to Gov. Scott Walker, who said he had not yet decided whether he would sign it. …

The most heated debate came on the bill making it tougher to force schools to change their mascots, logos and team names. It passed 17-16, with Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) joining all Democrats in opposing the measure.

Opponents called the proposed changes to the law inherently racist.

“You can’t call me a nigger and it’s OK,” Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), who is African-American, told her colleagues on the Senate floor. “We should not be able to call them savages, redskins or even Indians.”

But Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), the bill’s sponsor, said she was trying to make the law fair because currently schools have virtually no way to retain Indian team names if a complaint is filed against them.

“They are presumed guilty and there is no way they can prove they’re innocent,” Lazich said.

The bill would scale back a law — the first of its kind in the nation — that Democrats put in place in 2010 when they controlled all of state government. That law requires the state Department of Public Instruction to hold a hearing and decide whether to allow schools to keep race-based mascots and team names whenever it receives a complaint.

The standards included in the law make it all but impossible for schools to keep their team names and mascots because the schools have the burden of proving they do not promote discrimination or stereotyping.

Under the Republican proposal, complaints could be considered only if someone submitted signatures from district residents equal to 10% of the student population of the district. The measure would change the burden of proof to require the person filing the complaint to prove discrimination.

Schools also would be able to avoid complaints if they had an agreement with a tribe with historical ties to Wisconsin allowing the use of an Indian name.

Three districts have changed their team names, logos or mascots in response to the 2010 law. The Mukwonago Area School District has been ordered to drop its Indian team name but so far has refused to comply.

In addition to making it more difficult to force schools to drop their team names and mascots, the bill would void rulings since 2010 against school districts — allowing Mukwonago to keep its team name and prevent it from paying fines it could face in December.

The Assembly passed the measure 52-41 last month.

Schultz, who has differed with his fellow Republicans on other key issues, criticized the proposal before joining Democrats in voting against it. He said no senator would support requiring a woman who considered herself a victim of sex discrimination to get signatures from 10% of the electorate before she could file a complaint.

“So what makes it OK to think we should apply that standard to a race of people?” he asked.

A Waukesha County judge in 2011 ruled the finding against Mukwonago was unconstitutional, but this year the Court of Appeals reversed that decision because it said the residents who sued didn’t have legal standing to bring their case.

Lazich said the lower court ruling showed the 2010 law created an unfair “kangaroo court” for considering complaints against schools.

“This is not about racism,” Lazich said. “This bill is about due process.”

That comment sparked outrage from Sen. Nikiya Harris (D-Milwaukee).

“The audacity of white people telling people of color what this is and what this ain’t!” she said. “This is a race issue. This nonsense that this ain’t a race issue; this nonsense that we’re making this up — really? This is racism!”

This is what Sens. (and I use that term very loosely) Taylor and Harris think of us whiteys: You’re all raaaaaaaaacist! Isn’t it nice to see one state senator use language that whites dare not use, and another state senator not able to use proper English?

Taylor was quoted by the Wisconsin Radio Network as, besides using a term for her own race whose use betrays her own character, that “Savages, Indians and Redskins” were being used for athletic team nicknames in this state. She is flat wrong on the first and last words, and on what planet is the word “Indian” a racial epithet?

No one has adequately explained why a school district would choose a mascot for the purpose of being a target of ridicule. As someone of Norwegian descent, should I force the Stoughton or Pecatonica school districts to get rid of their Vikings nicknames? After all, Vikings have a centuries-old reputation of raping and pillaging.

The claims of discrimination demonstrate that we have truly dumbed down the term “discrimination.” The PC zealots also bring out dubious claims that American Indian children suffer from low self-esteem because of said American Indian team names, a perfect example of George W. Bush’s term “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”

Schultz, it turns out, is quite lucky this passed. Now he doesn’t have to explain to his constituents in the Potosi (Chieftains), Belmont (Braves), Lancaster (Flying Arrows), Riverdale (Chieftains), River Valley (Blackhawks), Black Hawk (Warriors) and Wisconsin Dells (Chiefs) school districts why they have to rid themselves of the nicknames they chose for their high schools because of their positive qualities.

The best thing to do would have been to repeal the mascot bill entirely. This is considerably better than the status quo, however. Will Walker sign the bill? He will gain no liberal support by vetoing the bill, because liberals hate Walker and want him dead. He will lose significant conservative support if he vetoes the bill.