In this segment of California Native we meet Dahkota Kicking Bear Brown, a Native American activist and Wilton Miwok youth leader. As a high-school student, Brown was instrumental is getting California to become the first state to pass a bill banning the use of the word “redskins” in public schools.

Brown shares the story of lobbying the California Legislature to pass Assembly Bill 30, the California Racial Mascots Act, which banned derogatory and offensive mascots in public schools in 2015.

Dahkota Brown also founded the group NERDS (Native Education Raising Dedicated Students) when he was an 8th grader. In 2016, President Obama appointed Brown to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education, making him the youngest White House Indian Education advisor in history at age 17.

Dahkota Brown at Standing Rock Reservation / Courtesy Photo