High school mascot: The Arabs

[gollygee]

Usually we see complaints about mascots with Native American themes, so this is new to me. I wonder if seeing a different group used as a mascot makes people look at this differently.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/11/11/244538722/in-california-a-high-school-that-cheers-a-r-a-b-s

Last week, Coachella Valley High School came under fire for the name of its mascot — the Arab. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee sent a letter to the school, complaining about the way the mascot depicts people of Arab descent. The complaint made the school national news.

At Coachella Valley High School last Friday — a game day — instead of getting ready for kickoff, students were stopped by television camera crews as they left campus. One by one, in their team jerseys and painted faces, they defended their mascot.

"It's pure pride, you know?" said Sergio Ortega, a freshman at the school. He plays on the school football team. For him, the Arab mascot is all he knows. "My parents, my grandparents, they've been Arabs, and I don't see nothing wrong with it! It's just to show us that we're strong. We're strong Arabs, you know?"

But here's the thing; they're not Arabs. Or even Arab-Americans. The student body of Coachella Valley Unified School District — and most of the entire region — is 99 percent Latino.

[msongs]

1. so will the mascot "the vikings" be history soon too? nt

[haele]

2. I remember hearing this on the radio - the problem was the mascot was cartoonishly mean looking.

The Arab-American group making the complaint had no problems with the name "Arabs", they had problems with the mascot, particularly the cartoonish, nasty-looking head. It's really bad - looks like something out of a 1940's propoganda poster, it's really bad.
Replace the head, or have the mascot someone dressed up to look like Rudolf Valentino ala "The Sheik", and from what I heard in the report, I doubt there would be much issue.

We had the same issue at SDSU with the "Monty" Aztec mascot. Change up the design so it's respectful instead of a stereotypical cartoon figure, and most people have few problems.

Otherwise, we're stuck never having a human-type team name or mascot for any event - anyone can get offended by any label you can apply to a group of people, but the offence can be greatly mitigated if you honestly attempt use the mascot with respect - and that means making an attempt to remove any stereotypical slurs that might accompany the group that mascot represents.

Haele