To the editor:
We want to thank you and the staff at the Catholic Herald for devoting considerable space in the paper to print the Wisconsin Catholic Conference testimony concerning the pending legislation on the mascot law.
At present the bill has passed both the Assembly and Senate, but it still needs the governor’s signature to make it law.
The new law would definitely reduce the opportunity for dialogue in those communities with race-based mascots, so it could damage the progress in Wisconsin for their removal.
We hope the article will create some dialogue here in Berlin so that eventually the Berlin “Indian” mascot can be permanently retired. It is a sensitive subject (surprisingly among the older citizens), but with education through dialogue more people understand why such mascots are improper.
Since we have been involved in the attempt to initiate education on this issue in Berlin, it gives us much satisfaction to know that our opinions parallel the opinions of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.
Tom and Theresa Sobieski, Berlin